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PROCEEDINGS 



PJG]V]¥SYI^VAW[IA CO]\VE]¥TIO]V, 



ASSEMBLED TO ORGANIZE 



A STATE AITTI-SLATEKY SOOIETT, 



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On the 31st of January and 1st, 2d and 3d of February 



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PHILADELPHIA: 
PRINTED BV MERRIHEW AND GUNN, 

No. 7 Carler''s Alky. 



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1837. 



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PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



PE]V]¥SYI.VA]\IA COTVVEIVTIOI¥, 



ASSEMBLED TO ORGANIZE 



A STjft.TE AUTI-SLATEUT SOCIETY, 



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On the 31st of January and 1st, 2d and 3d of February 



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philadelphia: 
printed by merrihew and gunn, 

JVo. 7 Carlcr^s Jllley. 

1837. 



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PROCEEDINGS 

Of a Convention of Delegates, assembled from various 
parts of the State of Pennsylvania, at Harrisburg, 
Danphin County, on Tuesday, the 3\st of January, 
1837, at 10 o^clock, A. M., inAlter^s Hotel, agreeable to 
the following Call: 

To the Friends of Immediate Emancipation in the State 
of Pennsylvania. 

In the prooress of our just and righteous cause towards the 
redemption of our country from the iniquitous system of Sla- 
very, the period, we believe, has arrived, when the friends of 
equal rights throughout the State should awaken from the 
apathy in which they have so long slumbered, and prepare for 
renewed and more vigorous exertions. Hitherto, our labours 
have been divided, our efforts weakened, and our energies 
repressed, for want of co-operation and efficient organization. 
Our opponents though conscious that the principles of civil 
and religious liberty are as deeply rooted in the hearts of our 
Yeomanry as the foundations of their native mountains are 
imbedded in the earth, have,^r selfish purposes, represented 
Pennsylvania as possessing no sympathy for the contemned 
slave, nor his generous advocates. Fellow Citizens, shall we 
continue to merit this tacit reproach upon our patriotism? 
Have we indeed no feelings of compassion for the captive? — 
no aid or encouragement for those who are manfully contend- 
ing for his rights? Shall we remain inactive until this moral 
warfare shall have been decided, recreant to our faith, and de- 
graded in the estimation of the honest and conscientious? Or 
rather, shall we not proclaim to friend and foe, in a voice that 
may not be misunderstood, that the principles which actuated 
our fathers in 1780, have still a dwelling place in the bosoms 
of their descendants, — that Slavery, in every form, and in 
every clime, is abhorrent to our feelings; at variance with our 
convictions of truth and justice; and that we shall not hesitate 
to use all lawful and honourable means for its complete and 
final destruction. 

If we were disposed to forget the claims of oppressed hu- 
manity, self-preservation alone would arouse us to action. 



4 PROCEEPINGS OF THE PENNSYLVANIA 

Do we value the inherent liberty of our nature, bestowed upon 
us by a beneficent Providence, and guaranteed by the laws 
of the land? Do we cherish and wish to perpetuate the free- 
dom of speech and of the press? Do we desire to see the 
Constitution of our country preserved inviolate? — "Citizens 
of each state entitled to all the privileges and immunities of 
citizens in the several states?" Then must we "remember 
those who are in bonds as bound with them." In the pre- 
sent crisis, our cause is identified with theirs. The moment 
we cease to advocate their claims to " life, liberty and the 
pursuit of happiness," we endanger our own. Can we then 
hesitate on the course we ought to pursue? Urged by a sense 
of duty; by the calls of suffering millions; by all we hold dear 
on earth and sacred in Heaven, let us prepare for fresh and 
energetic action. 

Come from the crowded city, the obscure hamlet; from the 
shop of the artizan, the labour of tlie field; come from the 
various useful employments of civilized life, and let us unite 
as one band, in a State Society, for the overthrow of this 
mighty evil. Societies already organized on the principle 
that all men are born free and equal, and consequently enti- 
tled to freedom and rational equality now, will send dele- 
gates. Where these do not exist, let all who entertain our 
sentiments and are willing to co-operate, meet and appoint 
them. Our friends from other states will be with us; the 
spirit of love, we trust, will accompany us, and characterize 
our proceedings, that our influence may be felt in every sec- 
tion of this our beloved country. 

The above Call was signed by upwards of Twelve Hundred 
gentlemen from various parts of the State. 

The Convention was called to order by Bartholomew Fus- 
sell, of Chester County, and, on motion, a Committee was ap- 
pointed to nominate officers for the Convention, who reported 
as follows: 

FOR PRESIDENT. 
F. Julius Le Movne, of Washington County. 

Vice-Presidents. 

Bartholomew Fussell, Chester County. 
LiNDLEY CoATES, Lancctster. 
Benjamin Bown, Allegheny. 
William A. Adair, Erie. 



ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION. O 

Benjamin Allen, Westmoreland. 
William H. Scott, Philadelphia. 
Joseph M. Truman, Philadelphia. 
Nathan Stem, Dauphin. 

Secretaries. 

James Rhoads, Delaware County. 
ji. L. Post, Susquehanna. 
Benjamin S. Jones, Philadelphia. 
William B. Thomas, Montgomery. 
Henry Diiffield, Cumberland. 

The credentials of the Delegates having been called for, it 
appeared that the following gentlemen were appointed to re- 
present the friends of Emancipation in Pennsylvania, most of 
whom were present and took their seats as members of the 
Convention: — From the 



Y. M. A. S. S. of Philadelphia. 



"William H. Scott, 
Benjamin Lundy, 
William Harned, 
Lewis C. Gunrv, 
Daniel Neall, jr., 
Joshua Coffin, 
Caleb Clothier, 
Warner Justice, 
William Ey,re, 
William Dorsey, 
James A. Wright, 
Isaac Parrish, 
Benjamin §. Jones, 
Robert Purvis, 



Charles Evans, 
J. Longstreth, 
N. W. Ellis, 
Edward M. Davis, 
Ebenezer S. Davis, 
William Hawkins, 
William Marrft, 
Alfred Woodward, 
C. C. Jackson, 
George Also'p, 
Charles Wise, 
William A. Garrigues, 
William Tiiompson, 
James M. Jackson, 



J. Willis, 
George Pennock, 
S. R. Evans, 
J. W. Gaskill, 
J. W. Morris, 
George Gngg, 
Isaac Shotwell, 
James M'Crummil, 
William Cansler, 
C. H. Roberts, 
B. C. Bacon, 
J. C. Bov/ers, 
Eli Dillin. 



Citizens of Philadelphia. 



Joseph M. Truman, 
Samuel Webb, 
Henry Grew, 
A. W. Thayer, 
James Wood, 
James Barket, 
William H. Ellis, 
Dillwyn Parrish, 
William S. Lower, 
C. W. Gardner, 
Ralph Smith, 
John Dickinson, 
John H. (lavender, 



Charles Kirk, 
Daniel Neall, sen., 
Powell Stackhouse, 
Peter Wright, 
Henry Sterling, 
Thomas Parker, 
Abraham L. Pennock, 
James Mott, 
Arnold Buffum, 
James Forten, sen., 
Nathan Thome, 
Benjamin Whitaker, 
John Robinsoji, 



Biddle Reeves, 
Tliomas B. Longstreth. 
W. W. Periine, 
William Neall, 
Robert S. Clark, 
Marshall Attmore, 
Jacob Wise, 
James Sellers^ 
Edward Needles, 
Samuel Scattergood, 
William Johns, 
Joseph K. Evans, 
George W. Mel^. 



I PROCEEDINGS OF THE PENNSYLVANIA 

Frankford A. S. S. 
George L. GiUlngham. 

Delaiuare County A. S. S. 

John Sellers, jr., Charles Cadwallader, Samuel Sellers, jr., 

James Tthoads, Abraham Powel!. 

Montgoinery County A. S. S. 

Alan W. Corson, Abel Filzwater, David E. Wood, 

Wdliam B. Tliomas, John Bariiett, John P. IluUer, 

George Corson, Joseph Lukens, Robert Potts. 

Bucks County Jl. S. S. 

\Vm. H. Johnson, Hector C. Ivins, Joshua Dungan, 

James Townsend. 

Susquehanna County Ji. S. S. 
A. L. Post, Chapman Baldwin. 

Clarkson A. S. S. 

William Jackson, Ja^ob Pierce, Joshua Brinton, 

I-indley Coates, Joseph Fulton, Daniel Gibbons 

Thomas Whitson, Caleb Brinlon, Josepli Moore, 

'I'homas Hambleton, Robert W. Burrows, Isaac Moure, 

Thomas Worrall, jr., Thomas Peart, Jonathan Lamborn. 

B. Fussell, Joseph Gibbons, 

Eli Hambleton, Moses Powndle, 

Citizens of Schuylkill Township, Chester County. 
Joseph Pennypacker, E. F. Pennypacker, John Rinewalt. 

Citizens of Willistown Township, Chester County. 
David Evans. 

Uwehlan A. S. S. 

Paxson Vickers, Simon Hawley. 

Westchester A. S. S. 

Henry Fleming, Samuel M. Painter, P. F. Smith, 

U. V. Pennypacker, Edward M. Bariiett, Aaron Vickers. 

Kennett A. S. S. 

John Cox, Pennock Marshall, Charles Hamilton, 

Isaac Mfndcnhall, William Way, jr., Henry M. Paxson. 

Kimberton A. S. S. 
Emmor Kimber. 



ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION. 



Benj. ClendenoH, 
William Taylor, 
Steplieii Smith, 



East Falloivjield A. S. S. 



Samuel Pennington, 
James P'ulton, jr., 
George J. Miles, 



A. L. Stanton. 



Colrain S.. S. S. 

Thomas Wood. 

Citizens of Berks County. 

Elijah Dechert, William Sterling. 

York A. S. S. 
Jonathan M'Miirdv. 



Harrisburg Ji. S. S. 



A. O. Hiester, 
Wm. Grimsliaw, 
M. M'Kenny, 
Samuel Cross, 
Akxandtr Graydon, 



W. W. Riitherfurd, 
William Hoot, 
P. Esminger, 
David Simple, 
James Todd, 



Washington Ban 
John Wolburn, 
Philip Irwin. 



Dauphin County Ji. S. S. 

Jtmius C. Morel. 



Jesse f^ussell, 
William Wright, 
Joel Wierman, 
Allen Robinett, 



tddams County A. S. S. 



Wm. C. Reynolds, 
Charles Martin, 
R. M. Middleton, 
Josiah Benner, 



Adam Wert, 
Wm. C. Wierman. 



H. Aurand, 
H. Duffield, 
W. C. Chambers, 
Jacob Dooy, 



Carlisle A. S. S. 

John Peck, 
Levi Merkle, 
William Parkinson, 
John Cormany, 



Charles Oj^iiby, 
Robert H()i:)ert, 
David Scobx, 
George L Lync. 



Citizens of Miffiiii County. 

James Nourse, S. Maclay. 



Westmoreland County A. S. S. 



Benjamin Allen, 
Isaac Fulion, 



Jumes Gimmiel, 
Samuel Welty, 



Jamc s M'Clelland, 
Wm. H. Cochran. 



S PROCEEDINGS OF THE PENNSYLVANIA 

Pittsburg Ji. S. S. 

William M'Candlish, John Dickinson, Alexander Miller. 

William H. Clark, Benjamin Bown, 
James Shaw, Joseph Warren, 

Washington County A. S. S. 

F. Julius Le Moyne, James M'Fadden, Kennet M'Coy, 

Alexander Gordon, Samuel M'Farland, James Boggs, 

Thomas M'Keever, Jesse M'Kibbon, 

John Sharp, John M'Farland, 

Buff'alo A. S. S., Washington County. 
Henry A. Ritner, Henry R. Alter. 

Florence A. S. S., Washington County. 
William S. Robb. 

Beaver County A. S. S. 

Joseph Frazier, Thomas Silliman, A. W. TowHsend. 

William Adair, James Sprott, 

Citizens of Lycoming County. 
Hornman. 

Mercer County A. S. S. 
James Loughead, James S. White. 

Erie County A. S. S. 
William A. Adair. 

Perry County A. S. S. 
John Ferting. 

Citizens of Wayne County. 

Pope Bushnell, Isaac P. Foster, Henry Curtis. 

Henry W. Stem, Silas Stevens, 
Daniel P. Kirkland, Alfred Ketcham, 

William C. Gildersleeve, of Luzerne County, being present, 
was invited to take a seat in the convention as a delegate. 

The following named gentlemen were admitted as Corres- 
ponding Members: 

From the Executive Committee of the American Anti- Slavery 

Society. 
Amos A. Phelps, Lewis Tappan. 



ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION. 9 

From Dlassachusetts. 
Orange Scott, John G. Whittier. 

Agents of the American Anti-Slavery Society. 
C. C BnrleiKh, John Cross, Edward Pritchett, 

J. Hlanchard, Oliver Johnson, Samuel L. Gould. 

J. Miller M'Kim, Henry Belden, 

On motion of Samuel Webb, it was 

Resolved, That the Governor, Heads of Departments, and 
the members of the Senate and House of Representatives of 
the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, be invited to attend the 
meetings of this convention. 

Samuel Webb, Lindley Coates, John Sellers, jr., J. McKee- 
ver, and William A. Adair, were appointed a committee to 
carry the above Resolution into effect. 

On motion of Lewis C. Gunn, 

Resolved, That this convention will now proceed to form 
a State Anti-Slavery Societ}'. 

Emmor Kimber, William H. Scott, Lindley Coates, Wil- 
liam McCandlish, E. F. Pennypacker, William A. Garrigues, 
and Isaac Parrish, were appointed a Committee to draft a Pre- 
amble and Constitution. 

Lewis C. Gunn, A. 0. Hiester, S. Maclay, William A. 
Adair, John Sellers, jr., Joseph Warren and Joseph Frazier, 
were appointed a Committee to prepare business for the Con- 
vention; it was voted that all business should be first submit- 
ted to said Committee previous to coming before the Conven- 
tion. 

Thomas Whitson, Alexander Graydon, Samuel Cross, 
Samuel M. Painter, Dillwyn Parrish, and James Nourse, were 
appointed a Committee to draft a Report on Slavery in the Dis- 
trict of Columbia. 

Adjourned to 3 o'clock P. M. 

The Convention again met pursuant to adjournment. 

Samuel Cross offered the following draft of a memorial, 
which was adopted and directed to be signed by the officers 

of the Convention; and Robert Burrows, D. Parrish, 

Hornman were appointed a Committee to present it to the 
House. 

" To the Honourable the Speaker and Members of the House 
of Representatives in the State of Pennsyh'ania. 
This Memorial from a large body of your constituents, citi- 
zens of Pennsylvania, now assembled in Convention in this 

2 



10 PROCEEDINGS OF THE PEXNSYLVANIA 

Borough, is to request your honourable body to grant the use 
of the Hall of Representatives to the Convention, on to-mor- 
row and Thursday evenings, for the purpose of hearing lec- 
tures on Slavery, by C. C. Burleigh and others. 

By order of the Convention. 
Harrisburg, Jan. 31, 1837." 

The Committee on business reported several items of busi- 
ness, which were laid on the table for future action. 

William A. Adair presented and read a letter from Na- 
thaniel West, of Crawford County, and one from J. Reynolds, 
President of Crawford county Anti-Slavery Society. 

To the President and members of the ^inti-Slavery Con- 
vention of Pennsylvania^ assembled at Harrisburgh, 315/ 
January, 1837. 

Esteemed Fellow-Citizens, — I hail with joy your Con- 
ventional meeting at the capital of this State. Would that 
circumstances so permitted that I were one of your number. 
I deem your cause, worthy Philanthropists, the cause of God! 
My prayers shall be for the wisdom of Heaven to guide your 
deliberations, and for the courage of Heaven to nerve you to 
the work. "Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his 
might." And may the eternal God be your refuge ; and 
round about and underneath you, may the Everlasting Arms 
be placed. May no influence impel you to action, but love 
to God and all mankind, especially that love which will ex- 
tend its balmy sympathy, and seasonable helps to the poor, 
miserable, helpless, down-trodden slave. 

But while absent from youp auspicious meeting, and al- 
though unknown to you in the flesh, permit me, gentlemen, 
respectfully to suggest a few thoughts which have occupied 
my mind. 

The statistics of slavery, though thus far only partially present- 
ed, have produced surprising revolutions and improvements in 
public sentiment. The facts already developed have been as- 
tounding! Others of immense interest and incalculable value to 
the anti-slavery cause remain yet to be collected, and fairly ex- 
hibited. The lightwhich,bythe efforts of anti-slavery advocates 
has been thrown upon the baleful system of slavery, has proved 
to demonstration, that under the blighting influence of that 
woful institution, we behold individual degradation and ruin — 
social misery of the blackest character, and public loss. — 
Under its paralyzing touch, commerce declines — the arm of 
honest industry withers — health, intellect, virtue, hope, hap- 



AXTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION. 11 

piness, and life with all its fondest endearments and most 
tender attachments — in a word all that is sacred, and lovely, 
and valuable to man as a mortal or an immortal being, lie 
bleeding, groaning, dying, beneath the horrid smile of this 
prodigy of wickedness — Slavery. 

You are met in the name of the Lord, the God who heard 
the cries of his oppressed ones from their Egyptian bondage, 
to advocate the claims of brutified humanity, to plead the 
cause of the poor and needy, of the oppressed, the suffering, 
and the dumb. May the spirit of life from God, enter into 

you and rest upon you while prosecuting this holy work! 

* * * * * * 

Appeal to the South — to the North — to public men of all 
classes — to travellers — to ship-masters, &c., ior facts. Publish 
these most faithfully. Such information bears down all before 
it. One FACT has been lately published here, which has 
made a stronger impression in favor of anti-slavery senti- 
ments than almost anything that has occurred as yet in this 
region. It related to the parting of a young man and his wife, 
both slaves, nearly white, both professors of religion, each 
having a Bible. And amidst the wildest despair, this couple 
were separated by brute force, perhaps forever, for the love 
of money! They exchanged Bibles as the last resource of 
consolation. The man who saw this doleful sight, sent the 
account of it. But this is an every day occurrence in the 
South, if common fame be true. 

I think you ought to order a Western Pennsylvania con- 
vention, for the nineteen counties, this side the mountains, 
to meet in Pittsburg, or Mercer, or some central place large 
enough; this would mightily strengthen your brethren in these 
regions. 

Finally. Let us try to prosecute the cause of justice, 
justly — the cause of mercy, mercifully — the cause of love, 
affectionately — the cause of truth, truly — in a word the cause 
of God, in a godly, persevering, triumphing manner. Again, 
I pray that the Lord, in the plenitude of his mercy and grace 
maybe in your midst, and direct you in all things to his glory 
and the effectual good of those about whom you are especially 
met. 

With true and faithful attachment to the cause of benevo- 
lence at large, I subscribe myself, gentlemen. 

Yours in the best of bonds — the gospel. 

Nathaniel West. 
Meadville, Crawford County, Pa. 

January 25th, 1835. 



12 PUOCBEDINGS OF THE PEXXSYLVANIA 

Meadville Jan. 25, 1837. 

Dear Sir: — The Crawford County Anti-Slavery Society, 
recently organized, expected to have been represented in the 
State convention by a citizen of our County. This design has 
been frustrated. 

We wish you, sir, to represent us so far, as to express to 
the convention our sincere desire, that its deliberations may 
be under the superintendence of a gracious Providence, and 
so directed, as that the world may have evidence, that in 
Pennsylvania, a firmness of purpose exists, to resist every en- 
croachment on the liberties of her citizens; and to sustain the 
constitutional right peaceably to assemble, and to petition for 
the redress of grievances, and especially for the abolition of 
slavery in the District of Columbia. 

We also wish by you to make known the facts, that Town- 
ship Societies are organizing in the County, and Anti-Slavery 
principles, as a leaven, diffusing themselves through the mass 
of our population. 

Respectfully yours, 

John Reynolds, Pres't of the 

Crawford County Anti-Slavery Society. 

To Rev. William A. Adair. 

The Committee to nominate officers for the Convention, 
were directed to nominate officers for the State Anti-Slavery 
Society, and report to a future meeting of this Convention. 

The following Resolution, reported by the Committee on 
Business, was called up and adopted unanimously. 

" Inasmuch as this body is composed of persons conscien- 
tiously differing from each other in their modes of divine 
worship, but all acknowledging their dependence on Almighty 
God for guidance and instruction. Therefore, 

" Resolved, That no outward form of religious devotion 
shall be observed by this Convention." 

On motion. Resolved, That a Committee of five be appointed 
to report on the slave trade carried on between the states of 
this Union, which was adopted, and James Fulton, jr., Wm, 
H. Johnson, Henry Grew, W. W. Rutherford, and James 
McFadden, were appointed on that Committee. 

A resolution was introduced in relation to the laws of 
Pennsylvania, regulating the trial of persons claimed as fu- 
gitive slaves; M.McKinney moved to postpone the considera- 
tion of it for the purpose of introducing the following as a 
substitute. 



-ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION. 13 

'• Resolved, That a Committee be appointed to report in 
relation to the laws of the United States and of this common- 
wealth respecting the recovery of fugitives from labour; what 
alterations ai-e necessary therein, and what action it is pro- 
per for this Convention to take in reference tliereto." 

A considerable discussion hereupon arose, in which Lewis 
Tappan, C. C. Burleigh,Ji.Ji. Phelps, anA others took part. 
Trial by jury was eloquently defended by the above 
named gentlemen upon the broad ground of justice and expe- 
diency. 

B. Lundy said he should confine his views principally to 
the constitutional rights of the States, in prescribing the mode 
of proceeding, in the surrender of fugitives within their re- 
spective jurisdictions. He did not deny that the laws of the 
Federal Government obliged the State authorities to give 
them up, upon sufficient proof \hdX claims against them were 
strictly legal; — but he contended that a State had the same 
right to prescribe the trial by jury, for all cases of the kind, that 
it had to empower the judges of its Courts to decide upon 
them, as at present. He believed that a State might constitu- 
tionally prohibit its own judiciary from acting in the premises 
at all, — and thus throw the business wholly in the United 
States Courts. — If, however, the question will bear a different 
construction — if the officers of a State Government are bound 
to act, when called on, in securing to the tyrant his title to 
property in the sinews and blood of his fellow man — still the 
sovereign power may be exercised, by prescribing the mode 
of proceediiig in its own tribunals. The numerous cases of 
kidnapping which have occurred, when free citizens of Penn- 
sylvania have been sold into southern bondage for life, render 
it absolutely necessary that the most decisive measures shall 
be adopted to prevent such flagrant abuses; and perhaps no 
better plan can be devised, than to grant the trial by jury in 
all cases of claims to service, that the acknowledged rights, 
privileges, and immunities of our own citizens may be duly 
guarded and protected. 

The whole subject was referred to a Committee, consisting 
of M. McKinney, Joshua Coffin, U. V. Pennypacker, Em- 
mor Kimber, and W. C. Chambers. 

It was Resolved, That no person shall speak more than 
fifteen minutes at one time, nor more than twice on the same 
subject, without leave from the Convention. 



14 PROCEEDIXOS OF THE PENNSi'LVAXIA 

Resolved, That all professional titles be dispensed with 
among the members of this Convention, during its session. 
Adjourned to 9 o'clock to morrow morning. 

February \st, 1S37. 

The Convention met pursuant to adjournment. The Mi- 
nutes of yesterday's proceedings were read and adopted. 

Isaac Parrish, J. Shaw, Lewis C. Gunn, W. L. Robb, Tho- 
mas Whitaker, Alan Corson, and William H. Scott, were ap,- 
pointed a Committee to draft an Address to the citizens of this 
state. 

Benjamin Lundy, Thomas Hambleton, Joshua Coffin, Jacob 
Pierce, William H. Clarke, S. McFarland, and John Dickson, 
were appointed a Committee to prepare a remonstrance to the 
Congress of the United States against the admission of Texas 
as a slave state into the Union. 

William A. Adair, William Harned, Joseph Frazier, L. 
Tappan, and Charles C. Jackson, were appointed a committee 
to prepare an Address to the people of colour in this state. 

Lewis C. Gunn, chairman of the committee on business, read 
the following letters, addressed to the Convention. 

Bedford, 25th Nov., 1836. 

Gentlemen, — Please to accept my thanks for your polite 
invitation to attend the approaching Anti-Slavery Convention 
of Pennsylvania. I need not assure you of the regret I feel, 
that my engagements will deny me the gratification of meet- 
ing with you on so interesting an occasion. 

Various considerations render it proper that the people of 
Pennsylvania should, at the present crisis, offer a solemn and 
decided protest against slavery. Their state was founded by 
members of the first Christian denomination, that excluded 
from its fellowship all who claim property in man — theirs 
were the first American statesmen who enacted laws for the 
abolition of slavery, and theirs was the first and only legisla- 
ture that has instructed its representatives in Congress to vote 
for the abolition of slavery in the district of Columbia. Per- 
mit me also to remark, that such a protest is required, to efface 
the stain cast upon the character of the State, by certain tra- 
ders in politics and merchandize, who, at a public meeting in 
Philadelphia last year, had the hardihood to recommend legal 
enactments abridging the freedom of your citizens, to strength- 
en the bondage of the slaves. But obligations of a still 
higher character — the welfare of our country, the rights of 
humanity, and the commands of God — call on us all to pro- 



ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION. 15 

test against slavery, and to use every lawful means for its 
utter annihilation. 

The present struggle for human rights affords many useful 
and impressive lessons. It teaches us the reality and power 
of Christian principle, which, amid the strife of avarice and 
amhition, can induce such multitudes to forego all seltish 
considerations, and to encounter obloquy and danger for the 
good of others. It exposes the heartlessness and falsity of 
political demagogues, by showing us that they are equally 
ready, according to their calculations of interest, to declaim 
about liberty and equality, or southern rights and northern 
interference — to reverence the doctrines of the Constitution, 
or to ridicule them as metaphysical abstractions — to defend or 
to assail the freedom of speech and of the press. 

It has, moreover, proved the fallacy of certain popular 
opinions. We are constantly told that education is the palla- 
dium of liberty, and that schools and colleges are the ram- 
parts which are to protect our republican institutions. Un- 
fortunately for this theory, the assaults on the plainest and 
most essential principles of republicanism, which have marked 
the present struggle, have, with scarcely an exception, been 
instigated by men of superior intelligence and education. 
The walls of Faneuil Hall have resounded with plaudits excited 
by pro-slavery sentiments, and the streets of the " Literary 
Emporium" have exhibited scenes abhorrent to liberty. 
The members of Congress, who at the last session trampled 
on the right of petition, and voted for a censorship of the 
press, had all received at least a common school education. 
Neither reading, nor writing, nor the highest attainments in 
science, will make good men or good republicans. Christianity 
is the only palladium of our liberties, and human learning 
will aid in perpetuating them, only so far as it aids in extend- 
ing the influence of the gospel. 

It is commonly supposed that the general dissemination of 
political newspapers is favorable to liberty, and hence it has 
frequently been proposed to introduce them into our schools. 
We may judge what lessons in morals, in human rights, and 
in constitutional freedom, our children would gather from 
very many of these journals, by recollecting the malignant 
falsehoods and the atrocious doctrines relative to abolitionists, 
with which their columns have teemed. 

The present struggle has likewise disclosed the profligacy 
of vast numbers of our rival politicians, and the iniquitous 
means by which they seek to acquire power. While they 



16 PUOCEKDINGS OF THK PENNSYLVANIA 

have professed attachment to repuhlican principles, they have 
striven who could most outrage them; and have mutually 
reproached each other, with favoring the rights of man. Abo- 
litionists, it is to be hoped, will profit by the exhibition these 
men have made of themselves, and beware of forming con- 
nexions with them. Such as have sold themselves to the 
South, would as readily sell themselves to us, could they get 
their price ; and they would betray us, the moment they 
thought it their interest to do so. Our duty, and of course, 
our policy, is to continue a Christian brotherhood, seeking the 
favor of God by doing his will, employing only such means as 
he approves, and looking to him alone for protection and 
success. 

I am, gentlemen, with great respect, 

Your obedient servant, 

William Jay. 
To Messrs. Lundy, Scott, Parrish, Gunn and Jones. 



Philadelphia, 1st month 28th, 1837. 
To the Jinti- Slavery Convention, to he holden at Harris- 
burg, on the 31.5/ instant. 

The subscribers having been appointed as delegates from 
the Junior Anti-Slavery Society of the city and county of 
Philadelphia, being unable to attend, owing to causes beyond 
their control, deem it a duty to the society by which they 
have been appointed, to inform you of the interest which is 
felt by many of the youth of Philadelphia, in the cause of uni- 
versal liberty. Be assured that the young and rising gene- 
ration are being aroused to the importance of maintaining 
those principles which so nearly concern our best interests 
and the future destinies of our beloved country. If our 
ancestors have slept over a system of such flagrant wrong, 
we, their descendants, are unwilling to follow in their footsteps 
and countenance the system, by remaining silent while these 
outrages are perpetrated. No, we are heart and hand with 
you in the good cause, and are determined never to relax our 
efforts until all the inhabitants of our land shall equally enjoy 
those rights, " life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," 
which are guaranteed to them by the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence. 

The before named society is in a flourishing condition, 
being composed of persons between the ages of 15 and 21 
years, numbering about 70 members. It is their wish (if 



ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION. 17 

considered expedient by you) to become auxiliary to the 

Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society. 

In closing we would say, that although personally absent 

our best wishes shall attend your noble advocacy of human 

rights. 

Yours in the cause of the persecuted and oppressed, 

Daniel L. Miller, jr. } ,^ , 

c, T T c Uelesation. 

Samuel J. L.evick. 3 ° 



New York, January 21th, 1837. 

Dear Brethren^ * * * * j doubt not but your Con- 
vention will seize the favorable opportunity, which will be 
presented at your meeting in Harrisburg, for digesting and 
maturing some suitable measures for the more immediate be- 
nefit of the colored people at the North. When there are a 
sufficient number of schools among us open for their instruc- 
tion upon an equality with others, and when coloured youth 
may find, without difficulty, places to serve at trades, on the 
same terms with other apprentices, we shall have made no 
small progress towards the final consummation of our labours. 

And the horrid system of tnan-stealing which is now car- 
ried on in almost every part of the free states, it seems to me, 
should receive more attention than has hitherto been bestow- 
ed upon it by the declared friends of our cause, and especially 
since it seems of late to have been revived among us, with in- 
creased atrocity and horror. Our free men and women and 
children, from our firesides even, are kidnapped and carried 
from us almost every week, and who does not know how near 
to impossible it is, to obtain from the existing laws, justice for 
the injured in such cases of robbery and outrage. And in 
what other civilized country, could one instance of such inhu- 
manity and barbarity occur without sending through the heart 
of that nation a thrill of horror and alarm, which would be 
followed with such vigilance and laws, as would forever pre- 
vent the like occurrence again! But here, in this free repub- 
lic, in this Christian land, this land of Bibles, and Sabbaths, 
and revivals, where " we are all opposed to slavery," cases of 
kidnapping are perpetrated frequently, and in the sight and 
hearing of Christians and ministers of religion, and officers of 
justice, which equal any ever seen upon the coast of Africa: 
and yet nothing, comparatively nothing is done to put an end 
to these outrages upon humanity, these assaults upon justice 
and religion. 

But I forbear. That the spirit of the living God may de- 



18 PROCEEDINGS OF THE PENNSYLVANIA 

scend upon your Convention and animate its members in the 
prosecution of this holy enterprise, is the prayer of dear bre- 
thren, 

Your friend and co-worker for the oppressed. 

La Roy Sunderland. 



Utica, January 20, 1837. 
Dear Brethren, — Your kind invitation to attend the Penn- 
sylvania State Anti-Slavery Convention, at Harrisburg, was 
received with emotions of thankfulness to you and to our 
Father in Heaven, for the privilege of witnessing so noble 
and important a movement as the one proposed, and for the 
honor of being asked to participate in the deliberations of such 
a body of men, on so cheering and momentous an occasion. 
It is now more than three years since, in your own hospitable 
city of fraternal love, I was permitted to sit down in sweet 
council with a convention of delegates from eleven different 
states, on this same thrilling subject, with a Lewis, a Shipley, 
and an Atlee who have now gone toth^ir rest, and a host 
of their companions and fellow labourers who are yet permitted 
to survive. Among the pleasing anticipations then cherished, 
there was no one more ardently and confidingly indulged 
than that Pennsylvania would speedily come up to this work, 
in the spirit and power of her own mighty ones, whose 
mantles were bequeathed to their successors and friends, as 
they ascended in their chariots of fire. The expectations of 
that period are now to be realized, I cannot doubt, in the 
convention to which, by your kindness, I am called ; and I 
need not say with what joy I should, in person, partake, with 
you, in the fruition of those early hopes, if faithfulness to the 
post of labour here allotted me, would consist with my leaving 
for the time requisite, the interior of the State of New York. 
Until within a few days, I had not wholly relinquished the 
hope that this would be the case, but the whitening harvest of 
abolitionism around me, which the frosts of winter do not seem 
to retard, admonish me that " it is more blessed to give " the 
mite of patient and continued labour, "than to receive" the 
gratification of sharing in the banquet to which you invite me. 
Labour, indeed, and gigantic labour, will need to be performed 
by you, on that occasion. But many, I trust, and well accus- 
tomed and willing labourers will be there, to make the toil 
light, and the triumph certain. 

A certain triumph, did I say ? Yes. Yet not because the 
labourers are many, or mighty, or willing. Let me say rather 



ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION. 19 

that the gathering hosts of Israel, only indicate that " THE 
MIGHTY ONE of Israel " himself is on his march. Let 
the earth keep silence before Him, and let those who come 
up to his help against the miglity, rejoice. Let them cease 
from man, whose breath is in his nostrils, and listen for the 
sound above them " on the tops of the mulberry trees." A 
fire goeth before HIM, and devoureth his enemies round 
about. His enemies shall lick the dust. The wrath of man 
shall praise him, and the remainder he will restrain. Yet a 
little while and the wicked shall not be. Yea, thou shalt 
diligently inquire his place, and it shall not be. But the 
meek shall inherit the earth. The upright shall delight 
themselves in the abundance of peace. 

But the triumphs of his grace and power will be accom- 
plished by human instruments and appropriate means. " For 
all these things he will be inquired of, by the house of Jacob, 
to do it for them." He will "bind up the broken hearted " 
by the hands of his children wdio are " merciful." He will 
" preach the gospel of deliverance to the poor," by heralds 
who shall " declare the whole counsel " of his will ; and 
"the opening of the prison doors to them that are bound" by 
those who " remember them that are in bonds as bound with 
them." 

And where shall the church and the world look for the 
almoners of the Divine bounty, the vindicators of the Divine 
law, and the advocates of the oppressed poor, if not in the 
land of Benezet, of Rush, and of Penn ? — Where shall 
freemen and statesmen stand up in the majesty of rectitude 
and in the dignity of human nature, if not in the common- 
wealth where a Franklin once lived — where a Ritner still 
lives ? Where shall a free press raise the standard, if not 
where the first veteran editor of " universal emancipation " 
wields his pen ? And where shall woman's eye rebuke 
cruelty and sin, if not where the law of kindness is even now 
heard from her lips ? 

Abolitionists of Pennsylvania! a stupendous work is before 
you, illustrious examples are around and among you, and a 
glorious crown is above you. The voice of the oppressed is in 
your ears. The borders of your soil are polluted with the touch 
of the soil of slavery. The driver's lash, not seldom, is flou- 
rished over your own territory. The manacles are at your 
very doors. The dust that prophets and apostles would have 
shaken from their feet, as a testimony against sin, is puffed into 
your faces with the southern breeze. To many of you, the 



20 PROCEEDINGS OF THE PENNSYLVANIA 

taunt of northern opposition — '^ ivhy douH yon go to the 
south with your doctrine," must have grown doubly stale. — 
" The South"is your next door neighbour, with whom you 
converse every day. You can stand where your voices must 
be heard in the land of lynch law, and your lamps gleam over 
the shadow of death, while your feet are planted beneath the 
aegis, and your heads basking in the sunlight of freedom. 
Pennsylvania, abolitionized, would become a furnace more 
terrible to the slavery of Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia, 
than the seven-fold fires of Babylon. 

The South, to escape its melting influence, would find a 
political secession of no avail, unless it could geographically 
recede from your borders. The wall of China would not be 
high enough — nor the Mississippi river broad enough. It 
must be a bridgeless gulf, like that which Dives found between 
himself and Lazarus, that could shield the land of slavery 
from the light of truth, were Pennsylvania now, what Penn- 
sylvania was, and what, we trust, it soon again, and hence- 
forward, shall be! 

The cause of emancipation expects that every true hearted 
Pennsylvanian will do his duty. The hardy, industrious, and 
honest children of Germany, among you, not less than the 
sons of those who scorned to touch, without a fair and freel}' 
stipulated equiA'alent, the hunting grounds of the feeble In- 
dian, will not long forbear to speak out in thunder tones 
against the complicated robbery, that forcibly deprives the 
labourer of his wages and of himself, in order that patrician 
idleness, efieminacy, and lust, may riot in the day time, with 
its ill-gotten gains. The abolitionism of Pennsylvania, it is 
believed, will be of no dubious, timid, time-serving, wavering, 
or popularity-hunting character. It will be neither moulded 
nor overawed by those who love to have the pre-eminence, 
and lord it over God's heritage. The abolitionism of Penn- 
sylvania will doubtless be thoroughly imbued with the 
principles of peace, with the spirit of meekne,ss and forgive- 
ness, with the practice of patient self-denial and quiet non- 
resistance, the needful panoply and preparation of our holy 
warfare — the weapons of which are not carnal, but mighty 
through God, to the pulling down of strong holds. 

May the spirit of all grace and consolation preside over 
your councils, inspire your hearts, direct you measures, sustain 
your exertions, and crown your efforts. INIay the blessings 
of many ready to perish come upon you, and the land in which 



ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION. 21 

we live, become truly, the refuge of the oppressed of all 
climes. Very cordially and respectfully. 

Your fellow labourer and friend, 

William Goodell 
To Messrs. Lundy, Scott, Parrish, Gunn and Jones. 

Utica, January 22, 1837. 

Gentlemen, — Believe me when I looked at the object of 
your soul-cheering communication of the 5th of November, 
stating your intention of placing Pennsylvania by the side of 
her sister New York and others, in the sublime and holy ar- 
ray of organized effort, in the shape of a state auxiliary socie- 
ty, it seemed to give a fresh spring to all the hopes, which 
this blessed cause promises for the ransom of the slave. I re- 
garded the formation of a state anti-slavery society in Penn- 
sylvania, as a fresh bulwark thrown up for the vindication and 
defence of human liberty, on the frontier of that land, which 
is the home of a dreadful monster, who lives on the unrequit- 
ed and unpaid labour of two and a half millions of Americans, 
labour extorted by the whip, the cudgel and the fist; yes, lives 
on their tears, which he daily drinks mingled with their blood; 
lives on a violation of God's ten eternal orders; lives on the 
wages of unlimited adultery and prostitution; lives by the 
sale of human flesh by the pound, and the marketable value of 
immortal souls, sold under the auction hammer. This mon- 
ster has been served, yea fed and pampered by hundreds and 
thousands of cargoes of men, women and children, who were 
taken amidst the blaze of their dwellings, amongst ferocious 
yells, the firing of guns, and pursuits of bloodhounds, by mur- 
derous pirates, in Africa, and imported between 1789 and 
ISOS, for nineteen years, by constitutional permission and li- 
cen.se, to feed this monster while young, in order to extend 
his dimensions and increase his enormous body and limbs, so 
that he might become so formidable, that no power on earth 
might cope or grapple with such a concentration of strength, 
mischief and malignity. 

The great tower in which this monster was lodged, was 
called "southern avarice, lust, laziness and power," and on the 
outside of the tower there blazed out on every part these 
words, many times repeated, as the law which the monster 
put forth, to restrain curiosity from inquiringabouthim, "silence 
here" — " no inquiry" — " no discussion" — " patriarchal insti- 
tutions" — "corner stone of republics.'* 

This monster has something like two or three hundred 



22 PROCEEDINGS OF THE PENNSYl.VANIA 

thousand apoligists in the free states, who are an unpaid sort 
of menials, (for it is a remarkable property of his, he never 
pays for any thing) whose business it is to apologize for his 
improprieties, standing in bar rooms, at the corners of the 
streets, sitting in editorial chairs, of religious denominations, 
men wanting office; by far the greater number are radical 
men-haters, who are most pleased when they see the greatest 
number of their race suffering most. Against this monster, 
your society, when it is formed, will wage eternal war, until 
he is dead. 

But to drop figure — allow me to call the attention of your 
convention to the Constitution of the United States, by which 
Congress has the power to abolish the internal slave trade now 
carried on between the states. If this power were exercised, 
and slavery could not send one of its victims out of the state, 
district or territory, where the slave was found, at the passage 
of the law forbidding the same, slavery would die of its own 
superincumbent weight in less than 10 years. The argument 
on this point you will find in the annual report of .the New 
York State Society. * * * * j send you our last annual 
Report, three of them. I wish you would make the principle, 
that Congress has power to abolish the internal slave-trade, 
now carried on between the different slave states,one of thearti- 
cles of your state constitution. Please examine my argument 
on this point; it fences in the whole field, so that abolition 
societies as they increase, may petition for the abolition of 
slavery in the District of Columbia and Territories, and also 
to abolish the slave trade now carried on between slave states. 
So Congress alone can kill slavery. It is believed to be a 
sound one by the abolitionists of this state. 

Yours, in the bonds of the bound, 

Alvan Stewart. 

To Messrs. Lundy, Scott, Parrish, Gunn and Jones. 

The following resolutions, reported by the Business Com- 
mittee, were then taken up and unanimously adopted. 

Resolved, That the system of American Slavery is a viola- 
tion of rights which the Creator has given to men as intellec- 
tual, moral, and accountable beings, which can never be sur- 
rendered or usurped consistently with moral obligation. That 
these rights, though some of them may be forfeited by crime, 
are anterior to, and independent of all social compacts and hu- 
man governments. 

Resolved, That the sinfulness of slavery lies chieflly in its 
vital, constituent principle, the holding and treating of man as 



ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION. 23 

property; and that in tliis respect all slaveholders, the kind, as 
well as the cruel, are alike guilty of a heinous sin, in withhold- 
ing from their fellow men unalienahle rights — trampling under 
foot the image of God, and disregarding the eternal and im- 
mutahle distinction hetween a person and a thing. 

Resolved, That, if it be unjust to compel the labourer to 
work without wages: 

If it be unmerciful to separate from him all the endearing 
ties which wedded love have drawn around him: 

If it be covetousness to envy him the possession of his own 
body, and appropriate it to the use of another: 

If it be uncharitable to treat a brother in a manner in which 
we ourselves would not wish to be treated: 

If pride consists in thinking ourselves superior to others, 
and refusing to acknowledge their equality in the sight of 
Heaven: 

If hatred fills the breast when efforts are made to relieve the 
sufferings of our species: 

If revenge will induce us to treat a man worse, because 
others are his friends, so as to punish them through him: 

And, if these things are either slavery itself or its natural 
fruits, then is it a deep and deadly sin, because it destroys all 
the heavenly virtues which constitute the Divine character. 

Resolved, That of all the measures adopted by the opposers 
of our holy cause, there is none more abhorrent to intelligent 
piety, than the vain attempt to save American Slavery from 
merited ignominy by presuming to cast over it the shield of 
the holy scriptures, the relation of master recognised in those 
scriptures; being that which is "just and equal,'' while that of 
the system we oppose is unjust and opp7'essive. 

Whereas many preachers, and other professedly pious per- 
sons, are wont to admit slavery to bean evil, who yet say the 
slaveholder is not bound to free his slave, until, in his judgment, 
the condition of the slave would be improved thereby, — thus 
clearly asserting that it is proper for a man to continue to do 
evil, until he judges good consequences will flow from his 
ceasing to do evil. Therefore, 

Resolved, That, If Slavery is an evil, it is an evil which 
somebody is doing: That it ever must be safe to cease 
to do evil: That we dare not be of the number of those 
who say that it is or can be proper to continue to do evil that 
good may come: — and that, in our judgment, if the opinions of 
some eminent men on this subject, were to be generally re- 
ceived by the community, they would go to destroy the foun- 



24 PROCEEDINGS OP THE PENNSYLVANIA 

dations of all moral and religious obligations, since no sinner 
will be likely to think the consequences of his forsaking 
a wicked practice will be good, so long as his sin is profitable. 

J. B lanchard, di^i^nX. of the American Society, said he had 
conversed with clergymen, who, while they admitted slave- 
holding to be a sin, could not see that it would be wrong to 
hold on to the slaves until the masters could be satisfied that 
it would not be a sin to let them go. These men hold that it 
is a sin to keep men in slavery, and, at the same time, a sin 
to let them go. They do not perceive that it is always dan- 
gerous to do wrong, and alivuys safe to do right. Clouded 
in their moral perceptions, they do not see that with such 
principles, they are disregarding the eternal distinction be- 
tween right and wrong. Theirs is the morality of the dark ages. 
It is like killing a miser for his money and giving it to the 
church ; making the end sanctify the means. It is wrong 
(say they) for a Christian to hold slaves. Nevertheless, he 
is bound to hold them until he has perfectly satisfied himself 
that all the consequences of emancipation will be good. Sup- 
pose a person in the daily habit of stealing from his neighbors; 
would you consider it a sufilcient excuse for his crime, should 
he tell you that he could not abandon the evil practice, until 
he was certain that his family would not suffer? Let such 
doctrines prevail, and the doors would be flung wide open for 
every evil result. 

C. C. Burleigh, Agent of the American Society, said: We 
are told that though slaveholding is sinful, yet if the slaves, 
when emancipated, would be taken up and sold again into 
slavery, and perhaps to a more severe master, duty does not 
in such case require their emancipation. What is the princi- 
ple here involved? Plainly, that if on my ceasing to do wrong 
another will begin to do the same wrong of which I am now 
guilty, I am not bound to cease. Crime by me is no longer 
crime when others would commit, if I should abandon it. 
"If I free my slaves," says the 'kind' master, "the law de- 
clares that it will seize them and put them in bondage to an- 
other. Perhaps the change will be to their detriment." 
What then? I ask. He that is bad enough to execute or even 
to make such a threat, is bad enough to break his promise, and 
for aught you know will break it. You are continuing then 
in actual wrong-doing, to prevent a possible or at most a pro- 
bable, but not certain wrong-doing by another. Or even at 



ANTI-SLAVKKY CONVEN'I'ION. 25 

the worst. Suppose you know the threat will be executed; 
that your freed men will be taken and sold. Does that justify 
you in retaining them as slaves? The bank vault has been 
robbed. The robber, goaded by an accusing conscience, re- 
solves to restore the money, but on his way to do so, he is met 
by somebody who has found out his object, and tells him, 
"if you return tliat money to the bank, I will certainly steal 
it." He knows the man will keep his promise, and he con- 
siders too the probability that in effecting his wicked purpose 
he will break locks, damage the vault, and perhaps otherwise 
do additional injury to the ])roj)i"ietors. Has he a right to go 
back and retain the money? Just as good a right as the 
slaveholder has to retain his slave lest another should enslave 
him if emancipated. But I have yet to learn that another 
man's iniquities justify my own. If they do, what crime can 
I not justify? — what wrong can I do? Why! if this be so, 
right and wrong are mere names without meaning, and there 
is neither sin nor sinner in the world. 

Jl. Ji. Phelps remarked, the plea is — it is wrong, in itself 
considered, for a man to hold slaves ; but if he gives them 
freedom, somebody will take them up and sell them to more 
rigorous task masters, so that on the whole, it is better to hold 
on upon them. It seems to be forgotten that the chance may 
be the other way, — that the master may suddenly die, or he 
may become a bankrupt, and his slaves seized, and sold at 
auction. There is a liability both ways, the chances of which 
no human being can calculate. The difficulty arises from a 
partial view of the subject, — from having no definite and 
certain standard of right — from a substitution of expediency 
for duty. 

C. C. Burleigh farther said, two liabilities to increased 
suffering have been mentioned, to whicb the slave is exposed 
while he continues in slavery. A third may be added. He 
is exposed to increased severity of treatment, from a change 
in the disposition of his kind master. Here is a double lia- 
bility — the slave's to physical suffering, and the master's to 
a moral injury. What has ever been more fatal to benevolence 
and gentleness, than the possession and exercise of absolute 
power? Nor is the danger less, when the possessor admits 
thathis title is not in itself a rightful one. A man is never safe 
while deviating in tbe least degree from the path of dutj'. He 
who holds slaves now, under the pretence of doing it for tbeir 
good, cannot be certain that when the circumstances which 

4 



26 PROCKEDINGS OF THK PENNSYLVAMA 

he regards as requiring it have changed, his disposition will 
be tlie same as now, or that he will be ready to set the slaves 
free. If he cannot see it his duty now, there is no certainty 
that after long contemplation of the subject through the 
medium of self-interest, he will ever see it his duty to give 
up his pretended property in man. He would always find a 
reason for continuing his oppression, in the supposed conse- 
quences of emancipation. 

It will readily be seen that the exercise of a wrongful power 
over his fellow men, may easily convert a man, however 
benevolent, into a t5rant, when we remember how dangerous 
the exercise of even rightful authority and the possession of 
rightful power has often proved. All history shows the 
correctness of my position. You remember with what appa- 
rently sincere and almost indignant astonishment Hazael 
responded to the prophet's prediction, that in after times 
he would be guilty of the most barbarous and atrocious acts 
of cruelty — acts from the bare contemplation of which, his 
soul recoiled with horror. " Is thy servant a dog, that he 
should do this thing?" The prophet thought no other reply 
necessary, than the simple declaration, " the Lord hath shown 
me that thou shalt be king over Syria." This explained the 
whole seeming mystery. The possession of absolute power 
was enough to work the change in Hazael's heart, and he 
became eventually, the very demon of cruelty that the pro- 
phet had described him. 

Lewis Tappan added, that influential and learned clergymen 
haddone much to mislead the public mind, in relation to the 
duty of emancipation. In the times of Ezekiel,th priests were 
placed upon the walls of Zion, with trumpets in their hands, 
to sound the alarm, loud and long, and call the people to re- 
pentance. Not so now. A few laymen had got upon the 
walls, and had commenced blowing with their trumpets, while 
the clergy had hidden themselves in the fort below, calling 
out to those above, — "Softly there I — Don't make such a noise, 
you will disturb the people!" 

Resolved, That in the opinion of this Convention, the en- 
slavement of eighty thousand children annually, in the slave- 
holding states of this Union, is a crime in principle, of the 
same character in the sight of God, as the enslavement of an 
equal number of white children in the free States — or stealing 
the same number of children from the shores of Africa. 

The following communication from George Bourne of New 
York, was then presented to the Convention. 



ANTI-SLAVEP.V CONVENTION. 27 

New York, January 26, 1837. 

****** 
How long, therefore, shall we directly approve of a system 
which, in all its living reality, now exemplifies " the world 
before the flood;" when " God saw that the wickedness of 
man was great in the earth; and that every imagination of the 
thoughts of his heart was only evil continually!" How much 
longer shall our Christian churches witness with complacency 
the astounding fact, which was formerly inculcated by " the 
Son of David," concerning the temple of Jerusalem — "My 
house is the house of prayer: but ye have made it a den of 
thieves?" Howlong shall we remain condemned by the 
expostulation of "the mighty God, the Lord," — "When thou 
sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him?" 

My experience and observation during nearly seven years 
while I resided in Virginia, convinced me, that until the 
geographical line which divides Maryland and Virginia from 
Pennsylvania, and the Ohio river, constitute the partition 
boundary upon the subject of Christian fellowship with slave- 
holders, all means to extirpate slave breeding and manstealing 
in the United States, will be comparatively inefficient. To 
that topic, therefore. I solicit most urgently, that the attention 
of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Convention should be 
emphatically directed. We interfere not with the rights of 
any citizen, when we refuse to admit him to Christian com- 
munion. It is our highest duty to " search the Scriptures for 
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in 
righteousness." — We may err in our interpretation of the 
infallible method to apply the Lord's precepts in many cases 
of dubious and conscientious casuistry; but it is impossible to 
mistake in deciding that " Menstealers" are not Christians, 
and consequently do not belong to " the household of faith." 
In this connection the declaration of the Apostle Peter 
may most profitably be adopted — "The time is come that 
judgment must begin at the house of God." To you our 
eyes are turned, for an oracular decision upon this momentous 
topic ; and it is devoutly hoped that you will " establish the 
decree, and sign the writing, that it be not changed ;" by 
which, as far as your influence may extend, abarrier impassable 
shall be erected against the admission and acknowledgment 
of any slaveholder, of any rank, or upon any pretext, as 
worthy of the name and communion of those disciples, who 
"continue steadfastly in the Apostle's doctrine and fellowship" 
— and who dread lest the Lord should say of our guilty land, 
"As thou hast done it shall be done unto thee ; thv reward 



28 PROCEEDINGS OF THE PENNSYLVANIA 

shall return upon thine own head" — and who weep and pray 
— "Spare thy people, Lord; and give not thine heritage to 
reproach !" 

As I am unintentionally precluded from proposing orally 
the adoption of it, I transmit a "minute" for the consideration 
of the Convention, expressive of my opinions, and which, if 
the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Convention approve of it, I 
should be gratified to see incorporated with their proceed- 
ings, 

" Whereas, the Apostle Paul has enjoined upon all Christians 
to " turn away" from all persons " having a form of godliness, 
but denying the power thereof" — and whereas, to no class of 
professing Christians, does the Apostle's melancholy delinea- 
tion apply with more exactness than to the Slaveholders in 
the United States. Therefore, 

Resolved, That it be recommended to all the Anti- 
Slavery Brethren, to use every evangelical means, in the 
respective Christian denominations to which they belong, 
that the following rule be adopted as one of the terms of 
Communion with their churches: — No Slaveholder shall be 
admitted to preach, or to lead the devotional exercises i7i 
the house of prayer ; and No Slaveholder shall be received 
as a Member or as an occasional Communicant in this 
Christian Society. 

Praying for you all wisdom from the " Father of lights," 
that your deliberations may be a blessing to yourselves, and 
abundantly successful in producing the " fruits of righteous- 
ness" throughout our churches and the United States. 
I am, 

Your Faithful Fellow-Soldier, 

George Bourne. 

The above resolution was then considered and unanimously 
adopted. 

Resolved, That the prejudice so long and extensively 
cherished against our coloured brother, so far from palliating 
our guilt in enslaving his body and degrading his soul, is 
itself a sin which may be, and ought to be, immediately aban- 
doned. 

Resolved, That the scheme of Colonization, as now held 
up before the community, is neither generous, just, nor be- 
nevolent ; not generous, inasmuch as it is the operation of 
power; not just, inasmuch as it does not, as it pretends, com- 
pensate those who have toiled and suffered in this land ; not 



ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION. 29 

benevolent, because it is founded on prejudice, and appeals 
to prejudice as its chief support, anil because it is contrary to 
the fundamental principles of the p;ospeI. 

On this resolution several gentlemen spoke at some length, 
viz. — Phelps, of New York ; Scott, of Massachusetts ; Har- 
ned, and Lundy, of Philadelphia ; and J. Nourse, form- 
erly of the district of Columbia. The latter stated, that 
his friends and relatives were slaveholders. He had been an 
agent of the American Colonization Society ; had travelled 
through North Carolina ; and had been instructed to say to 
the slaveholders of the South, that Colonization ivoiild secure 
to them the possession of their slaves, and strengthen their 
potver. " I confess," said he, " to my shame and sorrow, 
that I did so. From my heart I repent of it." 

The business Committee reported further resolutions as 
follows : 

Resolved, That the Committee appointed "to report on the 
laws of the United States and of this Commonwealth, touching 
fugitives from service," be instructed to examine all the laws 
of this Commonwealth in reference to slavery, and recommend 
such action thereon as it may be proper for this Convention 
to name; with leave to report at a future time, through the 
public journals favourable to our cause. Adopted. 

Resolved, That a Committee on the subject of the expenses 
of this Convention be appointed. Samuel Webb, Henry 
Flemming, and Henry Ritner were appointed accordingly. 

William A. Adair, Joseph Frazier, B. Allen, and Samuel 
M'Farland were added to the Committee on the Constitution, 
and said Committee were directed to report this afternoon. 

On motion, Resolved, That a Committee be appointed to 
purchase and place on the desk of each member of the Legis- 
lature, a copy of the January Number of the Anti-Slavery 
Record. Samuel Cross, Eli Dillin, and D. Neall, jr., were 
appointed to carry the above resolution into effect. 

The Chairman of the Committee, to request of the House 
of Representatives, permission to occupy their Hall, reported 
that it had been refused them. The Secretaries were directed 
to obtain a report of the proceedings of the House, in reference 
to our request, and have it inserted upon the records of this 
Convention ; they accordingly procured an account thereof, 
as published in the " Pennsylvania Telegraph," which is as 
follows: 



30 PROCFEDINCS OF THE PENNSYLVANIA 

Mr. FORD offered a resolution to grant the Hall of Representatives, 
this and to-morrow evenings, for the purpose of hearing Lectures on the 
subject of Slavery. He moved for the second reading and consideration 
of the resolution, but the House refused to consider, by the following 
vote : 

YEAS— Messrs. Babbit, Beatty of Mercer, Collins, Fling, Ford, A. 
Kauffman, A. I. Kauffrnan, M'llvaine of Chester, M'llvaine of the city, 
M'Curdy, Miller, Morton, Oliver, Park, Parker, Reed of Philadel- 
phia, Richardson, Smith, Snider of Bedford, Snyder of Philadelphia, 
Taylor of Lycoming, Trego, Tyson, Weidman, Dewart, Speaker — 27. 

NAYS — Messrs. Beale, Beatty of Crawford, Boyer, Brawley, Brooks, 
Burson, Carnahan, Cooley, Crawford, Cunningham, Curtis, Darsie, Dui,- 
mick of Pike, Dimock of Susquehanna, Downing, Duncan, English! 
Erdman, Espy, Etter, Fegely, Ferguson, Flanagan, Frederick, Fries, 
Garretson, Gorgas, Hammer, Harman, Hirst, Hughes, Jackson of Berks, 
Jackson of Columbia, James, Leech, Lewellen, Love, Longaker, Mowry, 
Picking, Rambo, Reynolds of Westm'd, Rinehart, Sallade, Sebring, 
Sheetz, Shortz, Stark, Sturgeon, Thompson, VVoodburn, Work, Yearick, 
Yost— 65. 

Mr. MORTON then moved that the use of the Hall for this evening 
be granted for the purpose of allowing addresses on the subject of Aboli- 
tion. 

He made a most eloquent speech in favour of this motion. He said — 

Mr. Speaker, I repeat, as on a former occasion I said, I am no Abolition- 
ist — I never espoused the principles. But sir, it will be recollected, that 
a similar request has been granted to others, to wit: the agent of the Co- 
lonization Society, the State Geologist, and the Teacher and Pupils of 
the Asylum for the instruction of the Blind, in the city of Philadelphia. 
Sir, the people making this request are a respectable portion of our con- 
stituents, from the different counties of the State. Pray, sir, to whom 
does this house belong, and by whose money was it erected and furnished 
with so much splendour for our accommodation? Certainly, by the people. 

Well, sir, these very people make this request of us as their public ser- 
vants, who profess to be truly democratic, "fresh from their ranks." Let 
us, then, carry our professions into practice, by granting their request by 
a unanimous vote. 1 hope, sir, we will not expose ourselves to the just 
rebuke of our constituents, on our return home, by their telling us, "we 
are hypocritical in our professions of democracy" — we cannot believe you 
so long as we have it recorded, as on the page of holy writ, that "faith 
without works is dead." They ask no legislation from us on the subject 
— no appropriation — nor have they asked any legislation from any quarter, 
other than the abolition of Slavery in the District of Columbia, by Con- 
gress. All they ask is, free discussion, and I hope, sir, this democratic 
legislature will not refuse it. If you do sir, it will more than any thing 
else tend to build up the cause of Abolition. 

Li reply to the gentleman from the county of Philadelphia, (Mr. Reed,) 
I answer, popularity is not my object, sir. I believe Abolition is unpopu- 
lar with a majority of my constituents, but, sir, 1, together with my 
worthy colleague, have the honour to represent the whole population of 
Beaver county, and in faithfully doing so, we have solemn duties to per- 
form in behalf of abolitionists as well as others, the neglect of which 
would leave them unrepresented. And further, sir, they form a respectable 
part of my constituents, I well know; and would inform the gentleman 
from the county, tliat 1 had the pleasure this morning of taking one of 



ANTI-SLAVF.llY CONVENTION. 31 

my constituents by the hand, whose moral character would suffer nothing 
by a comparison with his or any other oentleman on this tloor. Sir, 1 
am as tenacious for supporting the Constitutions, both of the United .States 
and of this State, as any other gentleman on this lloor, so far as I under- 
stand them, for the support of both of which, sir, 1 lifted my hand to God, 
previous to taking my seat in this House. IJut, while the right of free 
discussion is not only tolerated but guaranteed by those sacred instru- 
ments, I cannot record my vote to put it down. Sir, I have deceived 
none of my Abolition brethren, who are my constituents. They alt 
knew before they elected me to a seat in this House, what my views on 
the subject were. We differed, but sir, I believe they are acting sincerely 
and conscientiously, and so far as I know my own heart, so am J; and 
as there are perhaps no two human beings on earth who agree in all 
matters of thought, why should we not bo permitted conscientiously to 
differ? 

There is work enough for us both. Let Abolitionists go on and con- 
cinve the South that Slavery is wrong, and let Colonization go on and 
increase their means to send them to Africa, and the work will soon be 
accomplished. I hope the resolution will pass unanimously. 

Mr. CUNNINGHAM said he should vote against granting the Hall, 
for the same reason that he voted against granting it to the Colonization- 
ists — that the Hall was appropriated to both subjects. 

Mr. BABBIT said he should vote for the resolution, on the principle 
of doing exact justice to both parties. It would not be just, after having 
granted it to the Colonizationists, to refuse it to these respectable gentle- 
men. 

Mr. M'lLVAINE opposed the resolution at some length. 

Mr. FORD stated that he was not a member of the Abolition Society, 
but he asked the passage of this resolution as an act of justice to as respect- 
able a body of men as ever assembled in this town. He agreed with the 
gentleman from Beaver, (Mr. Morton,) that the members would have lit- 
tle ground to call themselves "republicans fresh from the ranks of the 
people," if they performed such an act of injustice as they were about to 
perform. 

He replied to the views set forth by Mr. M'lLVAINE at some length. 

He contended, that as the Hall had been granted at the request of one 
individual, (Mr. Cresson,) it would be an act of great injustice and im- 
propriety to refuse it to a Convention of three hundred as respectable 
citizens as could be found in Pennsylvania. 

Mr. REED opposed the resolution. 

Mr. M'lLVAINE continued the subject of his remarks. He said that 
the Abolition Societies had performed no good, but much evil. Virginia, 
but a few years ago, was almost ready to emancipate her slaves — that 
the subject was discussed in the legislature — but now, not a voice was 
heard in that state, in favour of emancipation. He asked why these gen- 
tlemen did not go to the South to propagate their doctrines'? It would 
be, to be sure, attended with some perils, but these perils had always to 
be met in a good cause. All our Missionaries to the East met with perils, 
but their cause bore them out. He was in favour of sound morals, and 
would go as far as any one in defence of them at home, but would not 
consent to be prying out the faults of our sister States. 

Mr. HOPKINS also spoke in favour of the motion. He agreed with 
Mr. .Jefferson, "that error might be tolerated where reason was left free 
to combat it." 



3i? PIIOCEEDINGS OF THE PENNSYLVANIA 

Mr. BABBIT would not agitate any subject that would dissolve the 
Union, but he did not believe that the Union was such a brittle thread, 
that allowing free discussion would break it. He was in favour of free 
discussion, and having heard one side, Colonization, it was but common 
jnstice to liear the other. There was no danger from excitement unless 
it was caused by some great evil. 

Mr. ENGLISH regarded all the questions which have been brought 
before the House on the subject of Slavery, as blended together ; and he 
had constitutional scruples against voting, until he had heard the report 
of the judiciary committee, who had now the subject under consideration. 

Mr. CRAWFORD also opposed the resolution. 

Mr. FORD again addressed the House in favour of the motion, and was 
replied to by Mr. M'lLVAlNE, when the vote was taken, which stood 
as follows: 

YEAS — Messrs. Babbit, Beatty of Mercer, Fling, Ford, Harshe, Hop- 
kins, A. I. Kauffman, M'llvaine of Chester, Miller, Morton, Oliver, Park, 
■Parker, Richardson, Smith, Taylor of Lycoming, Trego, Tyson, Weid- 
man, — 19. 

NAYS — Messrs. Beale, Beatty of Crawford, Boyer, Brawly, Brooks, 
Burson, Carnahan, Chamberlain, Cooley, Crawford, Cuimingham, Curtis, 
Darsie, Dimmick of Pike, Dimock of Susquehanna, Downing, Duncan, 
English, Erdman, Espy, Etter, Fegely, Ferguson, Flanagan, Frederick, 
Fries, Garretson, Gilmore, Gorgas, Hammer, Harman, Hirst, Hughes, 
Jackson of Berks, Jackson of Columbia, James, Johnston, A. Kauffman, 
Leech, Lewellen, Love, Longaker, M'llvaine of the city, M'Curdy, 
Mowry, Picking, Rambo, Reed of Philadelphia, Reynolds of Westmore- 
land, Rinehart, Sallade, Sebring, Shearer, Sheetz, Shortz, Snider of Bed- 
ford, Snyder of Philadelphia, Sturgeon, Taylor of Indiana, Thompson, 
Woodburn, Work, Yearick, Yost, Dewart, Speaker — 66. 

So it was determined in the negative. 

Lewis Tappan asked leave to make a statement in refer- 
ence to the American Anti-Slavery Society. — That Society 
had issued publications to the number of ninety thousand per 
month. At the last anniversary, fifty thousand dollars were 
pledged to sustain its operations. Since that time, it had in- 
creased its agents and decreased its publications. It had now 
appointed seventy agents, a great number of whom are al- 
ready in the field. The Society was now issuing, monthly, 
only 28,000 of its publications. These were all sold at very 
low prices. " The Emancijjator,^^ a large, and elegantly 
printed weekly paper, at $2 a year ; " Human Hights," the 
very title of which was so annoying to Southerners — a monthly 
publication, at 25 cents a year — forty copies for ^5 ; " Jinti- 
Slavery Record,''^ monthly, at 20 cents a year, — $\5 a hun- 
dred ; " Slaves' Friend,"" for children — one cent a piece — 
80 cents a hundred. These publications are exerting a wide 
influence. Slaveholders were procuring thrni from motives 
of curiosity. Articles from them were copied into the papers 



ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION. 33 

of the Slaveholding States. One paper — the United States 
Telegraph — recently contained Jive columns of ' incendiary' 
matter from the Emancipator and other publications of our 
Society. Duff Green ought to be made a corresponding 
member of our Society. However incendiary our writings 
may be, when they appear in our publications, just transfer 
them to the United States Tclegrapii, which circulates through- 
out the Southern States, and they are not incendiary at all! 
Duff Green had recently stated in his paper, that when he 
was in Boston not long since, a colored servant girl had the 
impudence to give him a pen-wiper ! he said he put it in his 
pocket, and when he got home, took it out to look at it ; 
when he found, printed on one side, " Plead the cause of the 
poor slave ;" and on the other, " May the needles of anti- 
slavery feinales prick the consciences of slaveholders." Here 
is an extract from the United States Telegraph, which will 
show that our operations are no secret at the South : 

(He here read an extract from a late number of that paper.) 

He further stated that a letter had been received from a 
Slave State, containing the wdiVaQsoi seventy respectable gen- 
tlemen of the South, as subscribei's for the publications of 
our Society. They sent the pay in advance, and thereby set 
a good sample to northern abolitionists. Our pamphlets still 
reach the slaveholders of the South. A gentlemen from 
South Carolina had called at the Anti-Slavery Office in New 
York, made out a list of the publications, and purchased them 
to the amount oi sixty dollars. Three thousand of Angelina 
E. Grimke's Appeal had been sent to the South, and very 
few of them had been returned. A broker in Wall street, 
New York — a young man just commencing business — was so 
convinced of the importance of continuing the gratuitous dis- 
tribution of our publications, that he offered to give i^500 a 
year for that purpose, and that too when money was worth 
two and a half per cent, a month. " And (said he) if you 
will engage five additional agents, I will support one of them 
myself." 

In regard to our agents, some persons object to them, be- 
cause the society furnishes them with the means of subsist- 
ence while engaged in their arduous labors. He would ask 
those objectors, if there were any such present, if they did 
not hire agents in their stores or on their farms to post their 
books, or get in their hay. 

In order to show that the laborers in the Anti-Slavery 
cause were worthy of their hire, he would just read an ac- 

5 



34 PUOCEEDINGS OF THE PENNSYLVANIA 

count which one agent, a man of sterling talents, who had left 
his congregation, to lecture in the cause of emancipation, had 
recently presented to the Executive Committee. It appeared 
that he had travelled 700 miles, and that his whole charge 
for expenses was ^13.25. In this account he gave credit for 
sundry books belonging to the Society, which he had sold, 
deducting which from the foregoing charge, left a balance oiF 
$9.37, only! This was a specimen of the exttHivagant pay 
of these " hired agents." 

Some of the agents of the Society could have ^1500 or 
s^2000 a year as Professors in colleges or Pastors of churches. 
They were now getting ^8 a week, and brickbats into the 
bargain, as lecturers in the unpopular but righteous cause of 
the slave. 

He concluded by earnestly beseeching the friends of the 
cause to contribute to the extent of their ability for its sup- 
port. He besought them to offer their money and their cha- 
racters with the multitude, as a sacrifice upon the altar of 
emancipation. My character (said he) was gone long ago. In 
these evil days — the man who retains character and is popu- 
lar with the multitude, must be false to his duty. Consider- 
ing the emergency of the occasion, we ought to pour out our 
money like water. For my own part, I had rather leave my 
children pennyless with liberty, than an inheritance of mil- 
lions in a land of slavery. 

The Convention then adjourned to 3 o'clock, P. M. 

According to adjournment, Convention again met. 
Additional resolutions, reported by the Committee on 
Business, were read and laid on the table. 

The Committee to draft a Constitution reported. 

On motion it was Resolved, That we now proceed to con- 
sider the Constitution, by taking up each article separately — 
which was accordingly done to the third article inclusive. 

The following resolutions were then called up. 

Resolved, That this Convention is deeply sensible of the 
loss which the cause of the oppressed has sustained in the 
demise of our esteemed friends and former coadjutors, Tho- 
mas Shipley and Edwin P. Atlee : — and that we tender 
our sympathy to their bereaved families. 

Resolved, That a committee of four persons be appointed 



ANTI-SI,AVERY CONVRNTION. 35 

to convey to the families of our deceased friends the above 
resolution. 

Isaac Parrish rose and said : 

The presentation of this resolution is calculated to excite 
various and solemn emotions. The names of our deceased 
friends are attached to the call for this Convention. But a 
few months ago they were among us ; now they are no more. 
It may be that our friends were personally unknown to a 
large number of the members of this Convention. But I 
doubt not that their names and their actions, as connected 
with the Anti-Slavery cause, are well known by every one 
who hears me. They were both active members of the 
American Convention, which assembled at Philadeli)hia in 
ISSlj, for the purpose of forming the National A. S. Society 
and were signers of the memorable declaration issued by 
that body. From that period up to the time of their death, 
they were both zealous and unflinching advocates of the 
rights of the coloured man. And during the trying scenes in 
our own city, when attempts were made to intimidate the ad- 
vocates of human rights, by resolutions and manifestoes of 
popular assemblies, they still held on their course, unawed 
and unintimidated. 

It may be said of Thomas Shipley, that scarcely a man in 
this country has devoted so much time, energy, and zeal to 
the cause of the suffering and the dumb. He was, for many 
years, a member of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society, and 
was, at the time of his death, its President. To the relief of 
coloured persons, seized as runaway slaves, he was especially 
devoted during a long course of years ; and in a great num- 
ber of instances he was instrumental in staying the yoke of 
slavery from those upon whom it was about to be placed. 

His legal knowledge in these cases, exceeded that of many 
professed attornies, and he was always on the spot, personally 
attending in their defence. Obloquy and reproach did not de- 
ter him for a moment from the performance of duty, nor did 
he consult his convenience and comfort. 

In regard to our deceased friend, Dr. Atlee, it may not be 
necessary for me to say much. He too was a firm and enthu- 
siastic advocate of the rights of human nature, and an intimate 
friend and associate of Thomas Shipley. It is a remarkable 
coincidence, that Dr. Atlee was appointed by the Pennsylvania 
Abolition Society, to deliver a eulogium upon tlie character of 
our friend. Before he had time to perform this solemn tribute 



36 PROCEEDIXGS OF THE PENNSYLVANIA 

of respect to the memory of departed worth, he too was num- 
bered among the silent dead. How solemn the admonition — 
how impressive the occurrence of such a circumstance! 

Our friend met death like a Christian. Although his illness 
was short and severe, he was calm and self-possessed; and 
when the solemn hour of his dissolution approached, he looked 
with holy hope and confidence toward a future state of happi- 
ness. 

It was my privilege to be an inmate of his dying chamber, 
and to witness his meek and holy resignation to the Divine 
will, as he entered upon the confines of eternity. Among the 
last expressions which escaped him, he spoke of the satisfaction 
he felt at having taken an interest in the Anti-Slavery cause, 
and I was forcibly reminded of the truth of a remark which I 
have recently heard, that "though abolition principles may be 
unpopular to live by, yet they are good principles to die by." 
It becomes my duty to present to the Convention, a statement 
of what passed in his dying moments, as connected with this 
occasion. With the permission of the Chairman, I will do so 
by reading an extract from a letter received from my revered 
father, which conveys the expressions referred to. — 

" Shortly before the death of Dr. Atlee, after he had taken a final fare- 
well of his family, he requested one of his friends to call upon me, and to 
desire my immediate attendance. On approaching his bedside, I found 
he wished to converse with me on some of his temporal concerns. In this 
interview he spoke with earnestness of the approaching State Convention 
of the Anti-Slavery Societies, to be held at Harrisburg. He desired his 
kindest remembrance to be presented to that Body, with an assurance of 
the deep interest, which, even at that moment, he felt in the cause in 
which they were engaged." 

The resolutions were unanimously adopted; and Isaac Par- 
rish, Lindley Coates, Nathan Stem, and F. Julius Le Moyne, 
were appointed a committee to carry them into effect. 

Adjourned to 9 o'clock to-morrow morning. 

Fehruary 2nd. 

The Convention again assembled. The minutes of yester- 
day's proceedings were read. The remaining articles of the 
Constitution were considered, and the report of the Committee 
adopted, so far as it related to the Constitution. The conside- 
ration of the Preamble was deferred until a future time. 

The Chairman of the business committee reported the fol- 
lowing resolution. 

Resolveds That the County Commissioners be requested 



AXTI-SLAVKRY CONVKNTION. 37 

to allow lis the use of tlic Court liouse, this evening for the 
purpose of holding a meeting for the discussion of Slavery. 

Samuel fVebb, of Philadelphia, said he hoped the resolution 
before the Convention would be unanimously rejected. That 
house had already been solicited by our friends in this borough 
and refused. Before we will give the commissioners an op- 
portunity of refusing us again, we will go out into the vicinity 
of Harrisburg to some old, honest, open hearted, German 
Farmer, whose barn is larger than his house — as every ^^ood 
farmer's barn ought to be, — where there is house room and 
heart room enough and to spare, and ask for permission to meet 
in his barn, rather than descend to solicit these Commissioners 
again for the use of the Court house. 

If we may judge from the uniform kindness and civility 
with which we have all been received by the inhabitants of 
this town, from the Chief Magistrate of the Commonwealth 
down to the humblest inhabitant of the place, we cannot but 
conclude that these Commissioners, have misrepresented their 
constituents in this matter; — yet, if in this we are mistaken — 
if the intelligent citizens of Harrisburg and Dauphin county, 
are prepared to sustain their commissioners in thus closing 
their doors against the delegates, representing a large portion 
of the people of this commonwealth, then, I boldly say that it 
is time our capitol was removed to a more hospitable county: 
to Pittsburg, to Erie, to Easton or even to good old Philadel- 
phia, where the citizens of Dauphin and every other county 
in the State, can send their delegates, peaceably to deliberate 
upon any subject of general interest, without any danger of 
being denied a room to meet in. 

But if the citizens of this town and county have been mis- 
represented (as we believe they have,) they are not alone; 
— we also have been misrepresented — yesterday in yonder 
capitol, some of our own representatives so far forgot 
themselves and their constituents as to close the doors of the 
capitol upon us! — as individuals we disregard it, and will 
cheerfully leave it to our and their constituents to determine 
at the next general election, who shall occupy that house; per- 
haps some of those who have refused us the use of the hall 
may not then have liberty themselves to occupy it. 

According to the new political doctrine of yesterday, that 
a citizen of another state is a foreigner in Pennsylvania, the 
gentleman to whom it is attributed, is himself a foreigner, 
as he was born in New Jersey. — It is no disgrace to be born 



38 PROCEEDINGS OF THE PENNSYLVANIA 

there — New Jersey will rank high among her sister states, in 
consideration of her humane and honourable treatment of her 
aboriginal inhabitants. Some of my own ancestors came from 
Jersey, and I mention it to show that / consider it no degra- 
dation. But the gentleman who uses such an argument ought 
to remember he is using a two edged sword which cuts both 
ways. 

As it is evident that these county commissioners and state 
legislators have misrepresented their constituents, it is to be 
hoped this resolution will be unanimously rejected. 

William Heister, of Harrisburg, vindicated the people of 
his own town, from the suspicion of having participated in 
the feelings or conduct of the commissioners. A large pro- 
portion of them regarded both with disapprobation and dis- 
gust. 

The question on its adoption being taken, it was negatived; 
but one vote being given in the affirmative, and that from 
courtesy. 

The Committee to invite the attendance of the Governor, 
Heads of Departments, &c., reported as follows : 

That we have waited on the Governor and Heads of De- 
partments, and so far as we found them at home, we were 
received in a polite and respectful manner. In answer to our 
invitation, the Governor replied, that he duly appreciated the 
respect extended to him by the Convention, in sending him 
the invitation ; that he had already published his opinions on 
the subject of slavery, in his late message — he believed the 
occasion called for his saying what he then did, but inasmuch 
as it had been asserted that there was an attempt making by 
certain politicians to unite the subject of Anti-Slavery with 
party politics, he thought it better for him not to do anything 
that would give countenance to such a report, and should 
therefore refrain from attending the Convention. 

The Secretary of State said he should be pleased to be able 
to attend the Convention, but the duties of his office were 
such, as would prevent it, and also expressed views similar 
to those expressed by the Governor in relation to connecting 
the subject of Anti-Slavery with party politics. 

The Auditor General replied that his official duties would 
prevent his attendance. 

The Surveyor General said he would return an answer in 
writing; which has not yet been received. 



ANTI-SLAVERY CONVKNTION. 30 

The other olTicers were not in their ofTices at the time your 
committee called on them. We therefore left for each of 
them a copy of the resolution of this Convention. We 
also sent a similar copy to every member of the Senate 
and House of Representatives. 

All of which is respectfully submitted. 

Samuel Webb, 

LlNDLEY CoATES, 

J. Sellers, Jr., 
.1. M'Keever, 
W.M. A. Adair. 

The committee to di'aft an address to the citizens of Penn- 
sylvania reported, and the address being read, was accepted. 
A motion to adopt was arrested by a motion to recommit, 
for the purpose of introducing some additional topics, which 
was carried, and the committee directed to report to the com- 
mittee on publication. 

The committee to draft an address to the people of colour 
in this state, reported. The address not meeting the views 
of the Convention, the committee asked leave to withdraw it, 
which was granted them ; and, on motion, Samuel Webb was 
added to that committee. 

The Convention then adjourned to three o'clock in the 
afternoon. 

The Convention again met at the time appointed. The 
committee on business reported the following resolu- 
tion, which was referred to the committee on the laws of 
the United States and of Pennsylvania. 

Whereas, Our laws punish the kidnapper with becoming 
severity; and, whereas, the abduction of free citizens is of 
frequent occurrence under the pretence of property in their 
persons; therefore 

Resolved, That we will use our influence to procure the 
enactment of a law, whereby any man claiming coloured per- 
sons residing in this state, as his property, shall be indicted 
and punished as a kidnapper, unless to the satisfaction of an 
impartial jury he can prove that he is the legal holder, or 
agent of the legal holder of the person or persons claimed. 

The committee appointed to draft a report on the internal 
slave trade, presented a report which was read and adopted 
as follows : 



40 PROCEEDINGS OF THE PENNSYLVANIA 

The Committee on the internal Slave Trade, respectfully 
report. 

Among the various reasons which justify and demand the 
persevering moral efforts of the friends of human rights for 
the abolition of the entire system of slavery, the internal 
traffic in the bodies and souls of men, is one of direful mag- 
nitude. 

In contemplating this odious feature of the vile demon of 
oppression, we behold all the endearing ties of nature reck- 
lessly riven. In defiance of the authority of high Heaven 
itself, the wife is torn from her husband, the parent from the 
child, and the brother from the sister. The last earthly 
solace remaining to the wretched victim of insatiate avarice, 
is wantonly wrested from him, and to him is given to drink, 
without mixture, and to the very dregs, the cup of agony and 
woe, — which America, professedly free and independent, 
presents to her own children. 

And what is the portion of those slaves who may actually 
escape these inhuman separations ? Is it not the fearful and 
constant apprehension of a similar fate, which embitters their 
miserable comforts by day and haunts the visions of their 
hard couch by night ? When the infant, yet unconscious of 
the chains which bind him in this land of boasted liberty, 
raises his bright eye to receive the responsive smile of ma- 
ternal love, is not that smile withheld by the torturing thought 
that the child of her affection is a slave ? — a slave, soon per- 
haps to be torn from her embrace, manacled before her eyes, 
and separated from her forever. 

It is impossible to give a full portrait of this direful scene 
of injustice and cruelty. The legitimate and unavoidable 
effects of the existing system of internal traffic in human 
souls, present abominations to the impartial mind not exceed- 
ed by any confederation of iniquity on the face of the earth. 
We except not the foreign slave trade itself There is an 
affinity of nature and practice in respect to the legalized in- 
ternal traffic and that which the nation has denounced as 
piracy, which no sophistry can hide. To suppose that we 
are clear in this matter, because the law has thrown its shield 
over this iniquity, is to suppose that the edicts of worms of 
the dust, can subvert the throne of the infinite Majesty of the 
universe, resting on the basis of righteousness and love. In 
illustration of this subject we could present details of unques- 
tionable verity, which must harrow up every soul in which 
the last drop of the milk of human kindness has not ceased 



AXTI-Sl.AVKKV CONVENTION. 41 

to flow, details of agonizing separation, of cofBes of manacled, 
lacerated human beings, of merciless acts, enough to blacken 
the walls of our capitol and of every liberty hall in the land 
with infamy, rebutting all the eloquence of denunciation of 
foreign despotism with the stinging rebuke "Physician, heal 
thyself." 

Some few general remarks, and particular cases only can 
be presented. 

By an article of the Virginia Times, published in 183G, it 
will be seen that 120,000 slaves are aimually exported from 
that state, 40,000 of whom are sold. It is estimated that the 
domestic maritime slave trade supplies the city of New Or- 
leans with no less than 20,000 slaves annually ; three times 
the annual importation from abroad into the U. States, when 
the foreign trade was most brisk. We may add 10,000, for 
those landed in other states and territories without touching 
at New Orleans, and 20,000 for the inland trade ; making a 
total of -50,000 men, trafficked yearly like swine. Mr. Blain, 
a Baptist minister of Pawtucket, Mass., judged from informa- 
tion which he received, that more than 100,000 slaves were 
thus sold in 1834. One single house in the District of Co- 
lumbia, exported 1000 in 1833, and its business was then 
extending. 

The following facts exhibit the horrors of the Jimerican 
"middle passage." 

A trader was recently taking down nine slaves in a flat 
boat. When near Natchez his boat sprung a leak. He was 
compelled to abandon her. He put his slaves into a small 
canoe. Being manacled and fettered, they were unable to 
manage the canoe. It upset — they were plunged into the 
river and sunk, being carried down by the weight of their 
chains. The water was deep and the current rapid. They 
were seen no more. The writer of the above says, " My 
informant conversed with a man who accompanied a cargo of 
slaves from some port in Virginia, round by sea to New Or- 
leans. He said the owners and sailors treated them most 
unmercifully, beating them and knocking them down on the 
deck. They were locked up in the hold every night. Once 
on the passage, in consequence of alarm, they kept them in 
the hold the whole period of four days and nights, and none 
were brought on deck during that time, but a few females, 
and they for purposes which I will not name." 

With regard to the appearance and treatment of those 



42 TROCKEDINGS OF THE PENNSYLVANIA 

slaves who are driven to market by land, wc give the follow- 
ing. A gentleman thus describes a coffle which he met on 
its dreary journey in Kentucky. 

" I discovered about forty black men all chained together 
in the following manner : — each of them was handcufled, and 
they were arranged in rank and file. A chain, perhaps forty 
feet long, was stretched between the two ranks, to which 
short chains were joined, which connected with the handcuffs. 
Behind them were, I suppose, thirty women in double rank ; 
the couples tied hand to hand." 

The diabolical system of kidnapping which is to be traced 
to this inhuman traffic, presents an irresistible motive to those 
who can sympathize with human woe, to labour for its imme- 
diate abolition. These outrages are not confined to the slave- 
holding states. In the free states " branches of the horrible 
bazaars are established in our cities, for the sale of human 
flesh and blood : and the loathsome dungeons for the incarce- 
ration of the victims of the monster, are located in our popu- 
lous streets," as well as in the capital of a nation boasting of 
freedom. " The chains, the fetters, the gags and all the para- 
phernalia of African land piracy, are displayed in our free 
Christian and republican community." 

The jails of the district of Columbia exhibit the outrage of 
American freemen robbed of their liberty, for no other cause 
than their not having it in their power to prove that they 
have not been robbed of it before. 

In the same district, by the high authority of the national 
government, this direful traffic with all its concomitant evils 
is going on, in circumstances of aggravated cruelty and in- 
famy. It is, therefore, the sin of the whole nation. And 
the voice of righteous retribution has already come forth from 
Him who dasheth the nations to pieces as a potter's vessel, 
" shall I not be avenged on such a nation as this ?" 

The case of Jesse Harod, a native of Pennsylvania, who 
was decoyed by some incarnate demon, and sold at Herring 
creek, in the state of Delaware, for three hundred and fifty 
dollars — the more outrageous case of James Williams, a highly 
respectable coloured man residing near Middletown, Dauphin 
county, Pennsylvania, who was arrested on a fidse charge of 
debt, and who, when released, returning to his once happy 
and peaceful home, found it desolate, his wife and children 
having been taken by the man thief — the case in Posey 
county, about ten miles from Mount Vernon, where an in- 
dustrious nesro was seized and beaten until he was senseless 



ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION'. 43 

and his breast bone broken, and then with his wife and cliil- 
dren carried off, to which we add only the case of Severn 
Martin, to exhibit a miniature specimen of that system of 
violation of human riii;ht and happiness, which is rendering; 
us a by-word among the nations, and turning all our counsel 
of freedom into foolisimess. 

While we maintain that no human laws can change the im- 
mutable prhiciplcs of justice and virtue, or excuse the viola- 
tion of those principles ; we find an aggravation of guilt, in 
respect to the internal traffic, in the fact that it may be con- 
stitutionally and peacefully abolished, without any infringe- 
ment of the rights reserved by the sovereign states. It is 
sustained by laws emanating from the General Government. 
In aggravated circumstances this traffic is carried on in the 
District of Columbia, .'sanctioned by a majority of the Repre- 
sentatives of the nation. It is not a sin to be charged exclu- 
sively on the' slave states. We have the authority of our 
most intelligent statesmen to sustain the position that the land 
may at least be delivered from this part of the direful curse 
of slavery by legal enactment. " The Boston Memorial to 
Congress on the subject of restraining the increase of slaverv^ 
in new states, signed by Daniel Webster in 1819, has tlie fol- 
lowing upon this point : '' Commerce in slaves since the year 
1808 being as much subject to the regulation of Congress, as 
any other commerce ; if it should see fit to enact that no 
slave should ever be sold from one state to another, it is not 
perceived how its constitutional right to make such a provi- 
sion could be questioned." 

With all due regard to the high authority of the nation, 
and to our brethren of the south, for the honour of our com- 
mon country, for the cause of outraged and suffering humanity 
— of virtue and our holy religion, we call upon all the friends 
of humanity to bring their concentrated moral force to bear 
upon tliis monstrous usurpation of human rights, that, by 
proper authority, it may be peaceably and righteously forever 
abolished. All which is respectfully submitted. 

.Fames Ftilton, jr., Chairman. 

The committee appointed to draft a remonstrance to Con- 
gress, in relation to the admission of Texas into this Union, 
reported as follows: 

Thai, considering this subject as one of the highest imj)ort- 
ance, at the present moment, your committee have deemed it 



44 PIIOCKEDINGS OF THE PENNSYLVANIA 

advisable to give it a thorough investigation; and, in doing 
so, they have found it necessary to recur to the proceedings 
of those concerned in it as far back as the period of the ter- 
mination of the " Missouri Contest." This is, indeed, abso- 
lutely requisite, to furnish a correct idea of the subject in all 
its bearings. It shall be done, however, as concisely as the 
nature of things, connected with it, will permit. 

From various public documents and well authenticated 
statements, now before your committee, they gather the fol- 
lowing important facts and circumstances : — 

The question of separating the territory of Texas from the 
Republic of Mexico, fur the especial purpose of adding 
strength to the slaveholding party in the United States, 
was not distinctly acted upon (though long entertained by 
many) until the year 1820, By the decision of Congress, in 
the admission of Missouri to the rank of a state, in this 
Confederacy, the system of slavery was positively, interdicted 
in all the remaining territory of the United States above the 
line of 36 degrees and 30 minutes of north latitude. This 
narrowed down the region, in which the establishment of new 
slave states was contemplated, to the circumscribed limits of 
Arkansas and Florida. As the slaveholders foresaw that, in 
process of time, the numerical strength of the free states 
would balance that of the slaveholding states in the national 
councils, even with the advantage they possessed of voting 
by proxy for three-fifths of their human "• property," they 
now resolved to obtain the territory of Texas, to preserve 
their preponderating influence, if it should be in their power. 
The first conspicuous advocate of this measure, who took a 
decided stand upon the principle aforesaid, was a distinguished 
political writer in Missouri. He treated largely upon the 
subject; and his sentiments were extensively promulgated by 
the press, in all the slaveholding states, &c. Many others, 
without distinction of political party, soon united with him 
in attempting, by various means, to impress on the minds of 
slaveholders the necessity of the acquisition of Texas. But 
as no legal claim to this territory could be sustained by our 
government, efforts were made to obtain a cession of it from 
Mexico, for a pecuniary consideration. This overture was 
promptly rejected by the JNlexican authorities, and other 
means were devised for the accomplishment of the object. 

Previous to this period, several persons from the United 
States had obtained extensive grants of land from the Mexican 



ANTI-SLAVEUY CONVENTION-. 45 

government, for the establishment of settlements in Texas ; 
and every exertion was now made, to throw in a population 
that would favour the slavcholding interest. The system of 
slavery had been abolished throughout Mexico ; but these 
new settlers, proceeding mostly from the adjoining slave- 
holding states, evaded the laws relating to this subject with 
impunity, in consequence of internal diiliculties then existing 
in the Mexican Republic. 

At length the settlers and adventurers applied to the gene- 
ral government of iVIexico for the privilege of organizing a 
state within the limits of Texas. They generally — though 
privately — avowed the intention of re-establishing the system 
of slavery, in contravention of the national laws. Their 
application was rejected ; and they soon thereafter, took up 
arms and declared their independence of the Mexican republic. 
Many individuals, and military companies, strongly armed 
and equipped, proceeded immediately from the United States 
to participate in the contest: and, by a fortuitous circumstance, 
(the capture of the chief commander of the Mexican forces,) 
they have been enabled to maintain their ground for a time. 
By their own statements, we learn that their army consists 
almost whol!}^ of citizens of this country. Influential slave- 
holders have made great exertions to furnish means, lioth in 
men and money, to promote the insurrection ; while the in- 
surgents have adopted a constitution, legalizing slavery in its 
most horrible forms. They have also proposed an immediate 
acknowledgment of their assumed government, and its union 
with the states of this confederacy. In addition to these 
views of the subject before us, we must not omit to notice the 
following facts and circumstances: — The slaveholders are 
seconded in their efforts by the great land-speculators in our 
free states, in the hope of realizing immense fortunes by the 
most extensive swindling operations. The slave trade, with 
the inhabitants of the United States, having been declared 
legal by the insurgents, and an extensive market for slaves 
being thus opened, a powerful impulse is given to both the 
American and foreign traffic in human flesh. The pecuniary 
profits of this traffic set at defiance all laws enacted by the 
different Christian nations for its suppression. Slaves from 
the African coast, are frequently taken into the Texas country, 
as well as Louisiana, by way of Cuba. The high prices, 
offered for them, also encourages the system of kidnapping 
free coloured persons in the United States; and, even in the 
cities of Philadelphia, and New York, regular establishments 



46 PROCEEDINGS OF THE PENNSYLVANIA 

are kept up, for the incarceration of its victims, and the barter 
in human blood and souls. 

Your Committee are thus fully warranted in asserting, from 
.evidence abundant and conclusive, that the proposal for the 
recognition of the independence of Texas, and its annexation 
to the United States, is a grand scheme of the slaveholding 
party in this country to extend their power and perpetuate 
the atrocities of their oppressive system with all its abomina- 
tions, to an indefinite period. — And they conclude with the 
recommendation, that this Convention enter its solemn protest 
against the measure, as one calculated to injure the cause of 
humanity, retard the glorious work of reformation, and en- 
danger the peace and tranquillity of the United States. 

The following Resolutions, and Memorial, are also submit- 
ted to the Convention, for its consideration and adoption. 

B. LuNDY, Chairman. 

Resolved, That all Anti-Slavery Societies, and friends of 
the cause, throughout the United States, be requested to use 
proper exertions for the dissemination of correct information 
upon the subject of the contemplated re-establishment of 
slavery in Texas, &c.; and also that they endeavour to im- 
press on the minds of the people, generally, a sense of the 
danger which menaces our free institutions from that source. 

Resolved, That the following memorial and remonstrance 
be presented to the Congress of the United States, at as early 
a period as may be practicable, during the present session of 
that body. 

MEMORIAL 

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States, in Conj^ress assemljled. 

The memorial of the Convention for the formation of an 
Anti-Slavery Society for the state of Pennsylvania, assembled 
at Harrisburg, respectfully shcweth : 

That your Memorialists have learned, with sorrow and 
alarm, that a proposition is at this time before your honourable 
body, to recognise the independence of the Government 
assumed to be established by the insurgents of Texas. Against 
this measure your Memorialists, in behalf of themselves, of 
the thousands whom they represent, and of the principles long 



ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION. 47 

cherished by the people of Pennsylvania ; In the name of 
liberty, justice, and humanity, enter their solemn and united 
protest. 

Facts, incontrovertible, which have come to the knowledge 
of your Memorialists, warrant the belief that the insurrection 
in Texas has been aided by citizens of these United States: 
That its main object — the grand cause of the movement, as 
evinced by the sentiments and conduct of its advocates, and 
by the very Constitution of their assumed government — is 
the re-establisment of Domestic Slavery, the re-opening 
of an immense Slave Market, to set up anew the shambles 
for human flesh, where the abhorrent traffic had been arrested 
and abolished by the legitimate authorities of Mexico; and, 
finally, to annex the territory to the United States. From a 
regard to the national honour, for the character of the age in 
which w^e live, by their obligations to posterity — and, above 
all, to the God of justice, your Memorialists feel themselves 
called upon, as Pennsylvanians, the representatives of freemen 
and Christians, to offer their strong remonstrance against any 
act, on the part of the country of which they are citizens, 
which shall sanction or recognise a government which owes 
its origin to the base and unhallowed purpose of re-establishing 
Slavery upon the soil of Liberty. 

Your Memorialists therefore, respectfully, but earnestly 
entreat your honourable body, to reject the proposition for 
the recognition of the Government assumed to be established 
by the insurgents of Texas, as well as all attempts that may 
be made to connect it with the United States. And as in 
duty bound, &c. 

The report was adopted, together with the resolutions and 
memorial appended. It was directed that the memorial be 
signed by the officers of this Convention, and forwarded to 
our representatives in Congress, which was accordingly done. 

The following resolutions were then considered and adopt- 
ed; — 

Resolved, That the principles of Universal Liberty, incul- 
cated by Lay, Benezet, Woolman, Franklin, Rush, Wistar, 
Jay, La Fa)^ette, and other illustrious statesmen and philan- 
thropists of our own and other countries commend themselves 
to the serious consideration of every candid mind; that as aboli- 
tionists we fully adopt them, and declare: 



48 PKOCKKDINGS OF THE PKNNSVLVAMA 

"That it having pleased the Creator of the world to make 
of one flesh all the children of men — it hecomes them (us) to 
consult and promote each other's happiness, as members of the 
same family, however diversified they (we) may be by colour, 
situation, religion, or different states of Society." 

That "it is more especially the duty of those persons who 
profess to maintain for themselves the right of human nature, 
and who acknowledge the obligations of Christianity, to use 
such means as are in their power to extend the blessings of 
freedom to every part of the human race" — and that therefore, 
irom a full conviction of the truth and obligation of these 
principles — from a desire to diffuse them wherever the mise- 
ries and vices of slavery exist and in humble confidence of the 
favour and support of the Father of Mankind, — the members 
of this Convention pledge themselves to one another, to the 
friends of equal rights wherever found, to the earth-bound 
stricken slave, and his unchristian oppressor, to use all the 
lawful moral means they possess to produce the effect our 
fathers attempted in 1780, namely — "to extend the blessings 
of freedom to every part of the human race." 

BesGlved, That we view with unqualified satisfaction the 
increasing disposition of our citizens to abstain rigorously from 
the products of slave labour, and that we earnestly and affec- 
tionately recommend to our friends, far and near, to re- 
member, at all times, "those who are in bonds as bound with 
them." 

Resolved, That we deem it the duty of parents to instil in- 
to the minds of their children a deep abhorrence of slavery; 
and that we cordially invite the co-operation of the young in 
our efforts for its removal. 

Resolved, That we sincerely and conscientiously believe 
the perpetuation of slavery in this country, will be productive 
of consequences alike fatal to our republican institutions, and 
to our existence as a united people. 

Resolved, That the system of American slavery is such that 
the certain amalgamation of the white and black population, 
by a most sinful process — can be prevented only through the 
general prevalence of anti-slavery principles. 

Resolved, That it becomes the working men of the free 
states to exert themselves against that system, which reduces 
the WORKING MEN OF THE SOUTH to the couditiou of "chat- 
tels PERSONAL," the direct tendency of which is to degrade 
the labourer every where, in the public estimation — to make 
his honest industry disreputable — to create and foster in all 



ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION. 49 

sections of our country an aristocracy hostile to the principles 
of that impartial democracy, inculcated in the Gospel of 
Love, and reiterated in the Declaration of American Indepen- 
dence. 

L. C. Gunn spoke in substance as follows : 
Let the true bearing of slavery upon the labouring white 
men be but understood by them, and it will evermore be im- 
possible for the gentlemen, who have stood behind the curtain 
exciting riot, again to succeed in getting up a mob. It is 
true, as stated in that resolution, that slavery tends to degrade 
the labourer and make his honest industry disreputable. 
AVhere all the work is done by slaves, as at the South, the 
notion is imbibed, and very naturally, that all work belongs 
to slaves, and that to work is slave-like. The poor white 
labourers at the South are respected as little as the slaves ; 
nay, by some, are considered even more degraded. More 
degraded, because, as the southern aristocrat reasons, they 
voluntarily do the work of slaves. An extract from one of 
Mr. Pickens' speeches last winter, has been put in my hand 
since I came into this place. He says : 

" Mr. Speaker — We are denounced before the world for holding a race 
amongst us in domestic servitude. It is not my province, nor is this the 
place to expound the precepts of divine law : but I lay down this propo- 
sition as universally true, that there is not, nor ever was a society or- 
ganized under one political system for a period long enough to constitute 
an era, where one class would not practically and substantially own an- 
other class, in some shape or form. Let not gentlemen at the north 
startle at this truth. We are yet, as a people, in our infancy. Society 
has not yet been pressed down into its classifications. — Let us live 
through an era, and then we shall discover this great truth. 

" All society settles down into a classification of capitalists and la- 
bourers. The former will own the latter, either collectively through the 
government, or individually, in a state of domestic servitude, as exists in 
the southern states of this confederacy. '^' 

" The only contest in the world is between these two systems. If 
labourers ever obtain the political power of a country, it is in fact in a 
state of revolution, which must end in substantially transferring property 
to themselves, until they shall become capitalists, unless those who 
have it shall appeal to the sword and a standing army to protect it." 

And, all remember the sentiments boldly expressed by 
Senator Leigh, in the Virginia Convention in 1829, that the 
labouring classes are not fit to take part in the government of 
the nation. Gov. M'Duffie, also, in his message last winter, 
recommended to northern aristocrats to make slaves of those 
of us who may be labourers. Yes, sir, and the north has 

. 7 



50 PROCEEDINGS OF THE PENNSYLVANIA 

been fast preparing to carry out the recommendation of that 
" patriarch." Witness the " bowing of the knee to the dark 
spirit of slavery" all around us ; Listen to the base assertion, 
from liundreds of lips, that the slaves at the south are better 
off than the poor labourers at the North, as they have no 
troubles and no cares. Yes, and this sentiment is even reite- 
rated by many workingmen — ignorant, perhaps, of the suicidal 
nature of the act Can they not see that, when such a senti- 
ment becomes prevalent, the next step taken will be the very 
henevolent one of bettering the condition of these labourers, by 
making them slaves, and thus removing from their minds the 
burden of providing for themselves and families. Nor are 
these the only proofs of a slaveholding spirit at the North. 
Laws even to prevent the discussion of slavery are recom- 
mended by such men as William Sullivan, L. L. D., of Boston, 
and Leonard Woods, jr., Editor of the Literary and Theologi- 
cal Review at New York. Dr. Sullivan admits that the great 
danger to be apprehended is from permitting discussion among 
"the village and country inhabitants" of the northern states! 
Such and a thousand other facts and prevailing sentiments show 
that the dark spirit dwells among us. And now sir, let it be 
borne in mind that laws are only public opinion written out, 
and what then? Why, when public opinion becomes sufficiently 
strong in favour of such sentiments, the next thing will be the 
enactment of such laws. Already, indeed, as another has ob- 
served, the smoke of the furnaces maybe seen, and the strokes 
of the hammers foi'ging chains for our limbs may be heard. 
On behalf of New England her own poet exclaimed: 

Slaves in the rugged Yankee land ! 

1 tell thee Carolina, never; 
Our rocky hills and iron strand 

Are free, and shall be free forever; 
The surf shall wear that strand away, 

Our granite hills to dust shall moulder, 
Ere slavery's hateful yoke shall lay 

Unbroken on a Yankee's shoulder. 

Sir, let the same be the answer of Pennsylvania — this state 
consecrated to justice and to love. 

From the free fire-side of her unbought farmer — 
From the free labourer at his loom and wheel — 
From the brown smith shop, where beneath the hammer 

Rings the red steel: 
From each and all, — 



ANTI SLAVERY CONVENTION. 51 

Let the answer be echoed back, "we tell thee Carolina 
never." With us the man is the man, whatever may be his 
occupation, or whatever the colour of his skin and the curl of 
his hair. 

The chairman of the business committee then presented to 
the convention a number of letters which had been received, 
as follows: 

South Scituate, December 8th, 1836. 

Dear Frie7ids. * * * * I trust you will be careful in 
the formation of your State Society, to give an explicit ex- 
position of the principles on which, we rely for the accomplish- 
ment of our 2;reat purpose. Let there be no want of plain- 
ness. Let the whole truth be uttered, painful as it may be. 

Slavery is an evil and a sin of immense magnitude. We 
cannot get round it, nor over it, and certainly we cannot 
get along with it. Therefore it must be abolished, an- 
nihilated. We have tolerated it so long that it has already 
well-nigh destroyed the consistency of our Republic. If there 
be not strength of virtue enough in the land to extirpate 
this evil, we are already a ruined people. I have sometimes 
feared that this was the case with us. But it is wrong to des- 
pair. We should exert ourselves to the utmost — in tlie hope 
that the Sovereign disposer of events, with whom all things 
are possible, may avert the ruin which seems to be impending 
over us. 

But how are we to get rid of slavery? Not by violence, for 
that is unchristian, and inajiplicable to the cure of a moral 
evil. Not by transporting the victims of our oppression, for 
that would be punishing them for our own wickedness. Not 
by purchase, for there are none who have the right to sell to 
us the freedom of human beings. How then shall we seek 
to obtain the abolition of Slavery! By leading our country- 
men to see its wickedness — and repent them of it. Exactly 
as we should try to redeem them from any other iniquity. I 
know there are many, wlio would have it believed that there 
is some especial difficulty in turning from the sin of slave- 
holding. But I can conceive of none which a true penitent 
would not at once surmount. — Much is said of the danger of 
emancipation. The danger of recognising men to be what 
God has made them I — and treating them in accordance with 
those principles of righteousness which the Infinite Father 
has prescribed for the govei-nance of his human famil}!! 



52 PROCEEDINGS OF THE PENNSYLVANIA 

What infidelity can be worse than that which doubts the 
safety of obedience to the Golden Rule — the Royal Law of 
the King of Kings ! ! ! Yet such is the infidelity which pre- 
vails throughout our land. And oh ! how sad, how melancholy 
it is that, in their blindness, their infatuation, our countrymen 
seem not to think of the infinitely greater danger of treating 
men as brutes, outraging the principles of humanity, and dis- 
obeying all the commandments of God ! ! ! The history of 
all past ages teaches us, if we would but learn, that such wick- 
edness never has escaped condign punishment — and surely 
their eyes must be shut, and their ears closed, who do not 
see and hear the admonitions of Providence to us — that as it 
has been with other nations, — so will it be with us, if we do 
not speedily repent. 

Yours most truly in the 

cause of the oppressed 

Samuel J. May. 



Columbia, January "iXst, 1837. 

Dear Friends, * * * Six years ago, and this nation 
proclaimed prejudice against complexion omnipotent, and 
slavery eternal. Now thousands stand forth regenerated as 
evidence of its vincibility. Six years ago, and Africa was 
considered the only rightful home of the coloured American 
if he was free, and America, if a slave. Now, thousands 
have adopted the "home-bred" sentiment that a man's 
native country is the land in which he was born. 

The very basest charges have been brought against the 
character of the free coloured population ! They have been 
charged with being ignorant, while their education was made 
a crime. They have been charged with being immoral, 
when in many places their public worship of Almighty God 
is made ^ penal offence! The ministers of our religion have 
declared that the prejudice under which we labour is natural. 
Thus they make Providence a party to their crimes, by ar- 
raigning the universal spirit of impartiality in his dispensations, 
declaring that he has incapacitated the intellects, as well as 
darkened the complexion. ***** Many now 
stand forth as illustrious models for their oppressors, in piety, 
morals, religion, industry, science and the mechanic arts. 
We were told five years ago, that the operation of anti-slavery 
principles would tend to render us impudent and unmanage- 



ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION. 53 

able! For the truth of that assertion, let the history 
of our proceedings, from that time to the present, answer. 
I am prepared to assert, without fear of contradiction, (and in 
doing so I am confident I am representing the sentiments of 
the intelligent portion of the free coloured population, from 
the District of Columbia to Maine,) that the influence of 
anti-slavery principles has had a more powerful effect, in 
checking their evil dispositions, and inculcating moral prin- 
ciples, than all the efforts of both church and state since the 
formation of our government. 

For previous to that period, the tragical events of all history 
directed them to look upon the success of physical conquests, 
*' through fields of blood and carnage," as the only sure 
method of obtaining redress for grievances, and redemption 
from bondage. But now they depend solely on the tri- 
umph of Christian principles, and the efforts of more/ suasion. 
During the past five years they have been very active, in the 
formation of societies, for their moral and intellectual im- 
provement. Nearly all the Societies that have been formed 
for the diffusion of knowledge "among men," and the dis- 
semination of the Gospel throughout Christendom, that exist 
among the whites, exist also amongst the free coloured popu- 
lation, and are nurtured and supported by their care. 

Their temperance societies are now studded over the land, 
in almost every town, village, and hamlet. They also have 
a National Moral Reform Society in the city of Philadelphia, 
with many auxiliaries in different towns, and there are sundry 
other improvements I could mention, as subject matter for 
refuting the calumnies of our enemies. If then the American 
Anti-Slavery Society and its auxiliaries, have done nothing 
more than inculcate this spirit of honest and Christian enter- 
prize, among the more intelligent portion of our people, 
while they are constantly extending the same leaven of right- 
eousness through the whole mass, their labours would not 
have been unavailing. But a more important result awaits 
their operations. 

We have much to hope from the past and present policy 
of Pennsylvania — the testimony of her most distinguished 
lawgivers and statesmen are with us, such as Penn, Franklin, 
Rush, Wistar, Benezet, and Ravvle. The literature, morality 
and religion of this state are against slavery. Therefore let 



54 PROCEEDINGS OF THE PENNSYLVANIA 

the enemies of human freedom beware how they acknowledge 
" property in man." 

I remain yours 

Atfectionately, 

William Whipper. 



New Youk, January 2Sth, 1S37. 

Dear Friends, ***** jf^ however, I am pre 
vented from being with you, and witnessing the sub- 
lime spectacle of a great state arising in her majesty and 
gathering her moral might to overthrow the power of op- 
pression, and to advocate the right of the poor and needy, 
the destitute and the dumb, I may yet rejoice in the fact. It 
is fit that the land of Benezet, of Franklin, and Rush, the land 
of those early friends of the slave, the followers of Penn, 
should take a conspicuous stand in the contest now waging 
between truth and error, between righteousness and the most 
atrocious villainy. 

Would it be considered by you, as an improper suggestion 
from me, that the illegality of the proceedings of slaveholders 
in reclaiming fugitives, might, perhaps, be a profitable subject 
for the attention of your Convention or Society? Perhaps, it 
would be well to employ some of the best legal counsel in 
your state to ascertain exactly what is, and what is not, the 
extent of their power under our laws and constitution. 

If they claim under a law of Congress, let it be ascertained 
that the law is constitutional or otherwise. And if Congress 
can legislate on this subject, let abolitionists make a proper 
use of this conceded power of the National Legislature. If 
their claim is urged under the Article of the Constitution 
whereby " a fugitive from labour by the laws of one state is 
to be given up, on claim of the person to whom labour or ser- 
vice is due," by the authorities of the state in which he is found, 
then let this provision bo carried out according to the laws 
of that state, without violating the municipal or civil regulations 
for the preservation of the peace. 

Let these marauders show their constitutional or legal 
authority to seize, gag, tie, manacle, fetter, scourge, imprison, 
and kidnap freemen in a free state ; let them point out the 
passage of the law by which they are sustained, and if they 
have no law for it, let the public sentiment be prepared on 



ANTI-SLAVEKY CONVENTION. 55 

the subject, so that grand juries may be found virtuous enough 
and well enough informed to indict the violators of your laws. 
Officers of justice who pervert their powers for the over- 
tlirow of personal liberty, would soon be taught a lesson which 
would prevent them from the flagrant and shocking outrages 
which have been perpetrated in the sacred name of Justice. 

From what has been so nobly done by the legislative and 
executive branches of your government in answer to the 
audacious demands of Southern Governors, Pennsylvania 
seems ripe for action on such a subject. 

With my most ardent wishes and prayers for the divine 
blessing on all your movements and your persons, 
I remain 

With esteem and affection, 
Your Friend, 

Abm. L. Cox. 

Philadelphia, Isf, mo. 25d, 1837. 

Dear Brethren. * * * When the two and a half 
millions of the American people who are now groaning 
under the most cruel and degrading bondage shall have 
their chains broken, and their manacles shall have fallen 
to the ground, the great cause of universal philanthropy 
will but have begun to develope itself in its fruits. The glo- 
rious work of human improvement must go on until the la- 
bouring population of our country and of the world shall be 
so educated and elevated in the scale of dignity and worth, 
that ignorance, vice and crime, banished or restrained, shall 
no longer mar the beauty nor obscure the glory of the na- 
tional branch of the creation of God. When the day shall 
come, as come it will, that no man can claim property in his fel- 
low man, and schools of literature, science and morals shall be 
universally provided, at the public expense, for educating the 
the children of the working people, the degrading estimation 
in which labour is now held, will be done away, and the man 
who by industry contributes to the sum total of the means of 
human subsistence and human happiness, will be regarded as 
a benefactor; while he who lives only by appropriating to him- 
self the product of other men's labour, will be regarded as a 
leach, sucking the life-blood from the body politic, and ob- 
strucUng the general welfare. W^hen correct views of human 
obligations shall have obtained a universal ascendancy, a man 
in health will be ashamed to live uj)on the toil and oppression 



5G PHOCEEDINGS OF THE PENNSYLVANIA 

of others, and all will regard it as both a duty and a privilege, 
to contribute some share to the common stock of the neces- 
saries and comforts of life; then the wants of all will be easily 
and abundantly supplied, and all will find ample time and 
means to cultivate their minds in those things which adorn 
human nature, and prepare intelligent beings for their high 
destiny. 

Especially, may those who profess to be governed by the 
unerring Spirit of wisdom and truth, manifest by their active 
co-operation with all those who are engaged in doing good, 
that they are really the servants of him who giving a relation 
of the good Samaritan relieving one that had been plundered 
by thieves, in the most positive manner commands his disci- 
ples to go and do likewise. 

He who came to preach deliverance to the captives, and to 
set at liberty them that are bruised, will not hold those guilt- 
less who thanking God that they are not as other men are, 
refuse to co-operate in rolling away that mountain of oppres- 
sion, which now grinds to the dust, in sorrow and suffering, 
millions of those for whom he died. 

With the salutation of Christian brotherhood, to all who 
feel for the down trodden slave as for a man and a brother, I 
remain truly yours, 

Arnold Buffum. 



New York, January 20th, 1837. 
Esteerned Friends, * * * * Since 

the holy declaration and avowal made by the Anti- 
Slavery Convention, at Philadelphia, and especially since the 
appointment of Agents by the Executive Committee of the 
Parent Society, to labour exclusively among our coloured 
brethren, a new impulse has been given to all our movements 
for our moral and intellectual improvement. — The clergymen 
of all the coloured congregations of this city by a united effort, 
have entered heartily into the work. 

We hold stated meetings in which we converse on such 
subjects as tend to the promotion of the moral, and intellectual 
and physical interests of our people, and such as have a bearing 
upon the all important subject of Abolition. In these objects 
we need the counsel and aid of our Anti-Slavery friends. 
Here is work for the hand of holy Philanthropy. * * * 

Theodore S. Wright. 



ANTI-SLAVERY CONVKNTION. O/ 

The tollowing resolutions were then called up and unani- 
mously adopted. 

Resolved, That while we admit the legal right of the seve- 
ral states, in their separate and associate capacities, to regulate 
their political concerns according to their respective conslitu- 
tions and laws ; we claim and determine to maintain the right 
of free discussion, and fearless expression of opinion, in rel;i- 
tion to every subject wliich is accessible to tlic human mind. 

Resolved, That whatever difference of opinion may exist in 
respect to the degree and kind of obligation resting on the 
people of the free states, under the Federal Constitution, to 
return fugitive slaves to their masters, there is no obligation 
imposed on the sovereign states, to surrender the liberties of 
any persons without trial by jury. 

Resolved, That this convention deem the re-establishment 
of slavery, by the people of Texas, after it had been abolished 
by the legitimate authorities of Mexico, an act of usurpation 
and cruelty unparalleled in the whole dark history of ty- 
ranny — a disgrace to the civilized world, and to the age in 
which we live ; and an act which our government cannot 
sanction, directly or indirectly, without justly entitling us, 
as a people, to an eternity of infamy. 

Resolved, That this convention earnestly recommend the 
formation of anti-slavery societies in every county of this 
state, auxiliary to the State Society, and also in each of the 
townships, wards and districts of the state, auxiliary to their 
respective county societies. 

Resolved, That each of the auxiliary societies belonging to 
this society furnish its name, number of members, and amount 
of expenditure for the year beginning with the formation of 
this society. 

Whereas, the self-denying zeal, and untiring labours of 
Benjamin Lundy, by which he sustained the " Genius of 
Universal Emancipation" for eight years of general apathy 
on the subject of slavery, when no pecuniary embarrassment, 
no privations of society, no cold neglect or indifference to his 
warning voice, could dissuade him from his fixed jM'incijdes 
of duty ; but finally the attention of many were aroused by it 
throughout the land: therefoj-e, 

Resolved, That Benjamin Lundy receive the tlianks of 
this Convention. 

Adjourned to 9 o'clock to-morrow morning. 



58 PROCEEDINGS OF THE PENNSYLVANIA 

February 'id. 

At the hour of adjournment the Cojivention met. After 
the reading of the minutes, the first business that claimed the 
attention of the meeting was the consideration of the Preamble 
to the Constitution ; which not meeting the approbation of all 
the members, it was, on motion, laid on the table. Emmor 
Kimber, Samuel L. Gould, J. G. Whittier, Wm. A. Adair, 
Lindley Coates, F. J. Lc IVIoyne and C. C. Burleigh, were 
appointed a committee to draft a new Preamble. The com- 
mittee asked leave to retire, which was granted them. 

The committee on expenditures reported that one hundred 
and twenty dollars would cover the expenses incurred by the 
Convention ; which amount was immediately subscribed by 
the members, and the Committee directed to liquidate the 
debts incurred by this body. 

Benj. S. Jones, Jas, Rhoades, L. C. Gunn, J. M. Truman, 
and Wm. A. Garrigues, were appointed a committee to arrange, 
correct, and publish the proceedings of this Convention, 

The committee on the preamble now returned, and sub- 
mitted to the Convention a draft of one, which was adopted. 
On motion, the Preamble and Constitution, as a whole, were 
then considered and unanimously adopted, as follows : 

PREAMBLE. 

Whereas, We regard the system of American slavery as a 
violation of the law of God, and utterly subversive of the na- 
tural rights of man ; dangerous to the integrity of our national 
Union; exposing us, as a people, to the divine displeasure, and 
calling down upon us the concentrated scorn of Christendom; 
associating the emblems of our liberty with the scourge and 
the chains of slavery; the sower of discord in our national 
councils — of guilt and hypocrisy in the professing church — 
full of danger to all who uphold it, and of woes unutterable to 
its victims. And holding with our fathers of the Pennsylvania 
Legislature of 1788, that "the whole race of men are created 
by one God, for the same noble purposes, that He will avenge 
the wrongs of his people, and that we speak but the divine 
will in requesting that this evil may be done away from the 
land :" — We, therefore, as citizens, not alone of Pennsylvania, 
but of the Union, and thus sharing the dangers, and, if we re- 
main inactive, the guilt of our common country, associate our- 
selves together to promote, by peaceful and Christian means, 
the emancipation of the enslaved, and the universal extension 



ANTI-SLAVKKY CONVENTION. 59 

of tlic free principles inculcated in the Gospel of Love, and 
reiterated in the Bill of Rights of Pennsylvania, and agree to 
be governed by the following 

CONSTITUTION. 

Art. 1. This Society shall be called the ^^Pennsylvania 
Slate Jlnti-Sluvery Society,^'' and shall l)e auxiliary to the 
American Anti-Slavery Society. 

Art. 2. The object of this society shall be the Abolition of 
Slavery in the United States and throughout the world. 
While it admits that each state in which Slavery exists, has by 
the Constitution of the ITnited States, the exclusive right to 
legislate in regard to its abolition in said state, it shall aim to 
convince all our fellow citizens, by arguments addressed to 
their understandings and consciences, that slaveholding is a 
heinous sin in the sight of God, and that the duty, safety, and 
best interests of all concerned, require its immediate abandon- 
ment, without expatriation. The Society will also endeavour 
in a constitutional way, to influence Congress to put an end to 
the domestic slave trade, and to abolish slavery in all those 
portions of our common country which come under its ex- 
clusive legislation; and likewise to prevent the extension of 
it to any state, that may be hereafter admitted into the 
Union, 

Art. 3. This Society shall aim to elevate the character and 
condition of the people of colour, by encouraging their intellec- 
tual, moral, and religious improvement, and by removing pub- 
lic prejudice, that thus they may, according to their intellectual 
and moral worth, share with us, an equality of civil rights and 
religious privileges; but this society will never, in any way, 
countenance the oppressed in vindicating their rights by re- 
sorting to physical force. 

Art. 4. Any inhabitant of Pennsylvania who adopts the 
principles of this Constitution, contributes to the funds of the 
Society, and is not a slaveholder, may become a member. 

Art. 5. The ofiicers of this Society shall be a President, six 
Vice Presidents, two Corresponding Secretaries — who shall, 
ex-officio, be members of their respective Executive Commit- 
tees, — two Recording Secretaries, two Treasurers, and a Board 
of Managers, composed of the above and not less than fifteen 
other members of the Society. They shall be annually cho- 
sen by the members of the Society, and five of them shall con- 
titute a (juorum. 



60 PROCEKBINGS OF TIIK PENNSi'LVAMA 

*^rl. (J. The Board of Managers shall annually elect two 
Executive Committees, consisting of six members each, one 
of which shall be located at Pittsburg, and shall act for and on 
behalf of the counties of Erie, Crawford, Mercer, Beaver, 
Washington, Green, Westmoreland, Fayette, Allegheny, But- 
ler, Venango, Warren, McKean, Jefferson, Armstrong, Indi- 
ana, Somerset, Cambria, Clearfield and Potter: the other shall 
be located at Philadelphia, and shall act for and on behalf of 
the remaining counties. Each Committee shall report to the 
annual meeting, the amount of the moneys it has received 
and its expenditures, and such other matters as shall properly 
claim its attention. — They shall have power to enact their 
own By-Laws, fill any vacancies that may occur in their own 
body, and direct their respective Treasurers in the application 
ot all moneys collected in their several districts. Not less than 
three members of each Committee shall constitute a quorum 
for the transaction of business. 

Art. 7. The Board of Managers shall make arrangements 
for all meetings of the Society, shall appoint the Executive 
Committees, and have a general oversight of all the concerns 
of the Institution. 

^drt. S. The President shall preside at all meetings of the 
Society, or in his absence one of the Vice Presidents, or in 
their absence a President for the time. — The Corresponding 
Secretaries shall conduct the correspondence of the Society 
under the direction of the Executive Committees. — The Re- 
cording Secretaries shall notify all n.eetings of the Society, 
and of the Executive Committees, and shall keep records of 
the same. — The Treasurers shall receive subscriptions, make 
payments at the direction of the Executive Committees, and 
present written and audited accounts, with the reports of 
their Executive Committees. 

Jirt. 9. The stated meetings of the Society shall be held 
on the third Tuesday of January in each year, — when the ac- 
counts of the Treasurers shall be presented, the annual reports 
read, appropriate addresses delivered, the officers chosen, and 
such other business transacted, as shall be deemed best. 

Jirt. 10. Any Anti-Slavery Society or Association in this 
State, founded on the same principles, may become auxiliary 
to this Society. The officers of each Auxiliary Society shall 
be ex-officio members of the Parent Institution and shall be 
entlthnl to deliberate ;Mid vote in the transaction of Us con- 



AN'I'I-Sl-AVERY CONVKNTION, 61 

Jirt. 11. This ConstiUition may be anicndcd at any an- 
nual meeting of the Society, by a vote of two-thirds of the 
members present, provided the amendments j)roposcd have 
been jjreviously submitted, in writing, to the IJoard of Mana- 
gers. 

The committee to nominate officers reported as follows: 
The committee on nominations respectfully submit to the 

Convention the following named persons for officers of the 

Pennsylvania State Anti-Slavery Society. 

PRESIDENT. 
F. J. Le Moyne, Washington County. 

VICE-PRESIDENTS. 

Wm. Jessup, oi MonlrosCy Susquehanna County. 

A. L. Pennock, Philadelphia. 

Nathan Stem, Dauphin. 

John Black, AllegJieny. 

LiNDLEY CoATEs, Lancaster. 

William A. Adair, Erie. 

CORRESPONDING SECRETARIES. 

Isaac Parrish, Philadelphia. 
J. P. Gazzam, Pittsburg. 

RECORDING SECRETARIES. 

Benjamin S. Jones, Philadelphia. 
H. C. Howell, Pittsburg. 

TREASURERS. 

James Wood, Philadelphia. 
Charles Avery, Pittsburg. 

ADDITIONAL MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF MANAGERS. 

Alexander Gravdon, Dauphin Co. 
Joseph M. Truman, Philadelphia Co. 
Samuel Maclay, MiJJlin Co. 
Charles Cadwallader, Delaivare Co. 
A. VV. Townsend, licavcr Co. 
Thomas McKeevkr, It'^ishinston Co. 



62 PROCEEDINGS OF THE PENNSYLVANIA 

John Reynolds, Crawford Co. 

Samuel Webb, Philadelphia Co. 

William H. Johnson, Bucks Co. * 

Elijah Dechart, Berks Co. 

AViLLiAM C. Chamberlain, Ciimherhmd Co. 

William McCandlish, ^fillegheny Co. 

B. Allen, JFestmoreland Co. 

J. P. RuTTER, 3fontgomery Co. 

Thomas Whitson, Lancaster Co. 

James Mott, Philadelphia Co. 

John McMurdy, Vork Co. 

Glazin, fiercer Co. 

Samuel Williams, Mlegheny Co. 
W. M. Reynolds, Adams Co. 
Henry Fleming, Chester Co. 

Which report \vas accepted, and on motion unanimously 
adopted. 

The committee on the District of Columbia reported, which 
report was accepted, and adopted as follows: 

The committee on the District of Columbia beg leave to 
present the following report: 

That while we regard slavery in any part of our country 
as a flagrant violation of justice, republican principles and di- 
vine law, we contemplate, with special regret and abhorrence 
its existence in that District, which, as being the political cen- 
tre of this professedly free nation, should, though all else 
were tainted with foul pollution, remain pure and uncontamina- 
nated, as befits the very inner court of freedom's temple. If 
in any spot on earth, slavery should be known but as the 
curse of other lands and the disgrace of other times — should 
be heard of only in the traveller's tale and seen only on the 
historian's page; if in any place, every man should stand erect 
in the dignity of conscious freedom, the proprietor of his own 
limbs, entitled to the fruits of his own labour, enjoying the 
free exercise of his intellectual and moral faculties, unrestrained 
but by just and equal laws, and unpunished but for fairly 
proved crime, that spot is the District of Columbia. Yet in 
that spot, sacred as it should be to human freedom, 7000 hu- 
man beings, unaccused of any crime which could forfeit li- 
berty, are held in the condition of ''chattels personal," destitute 



ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION. G3 

of ;iny acknowledged and protected rights, liable to all the 
wrongs and outrages which avarice, cruelty, or lust can sug- 
gest and arbitrary power indict, and consigned to the degrada- 
tion which is inseparable from slavery. A system, the same 
in its general character, as that of the worst slave region of 
our own or any other land, and diflcring, if at all, only in the 
degree of severity with which it is administered, weighs 
down, with its grinding oppression these thousands of our 
brethren, who, unless we are content to admit that this nation 
stands before the world with a lie in her riglit hand, have an 
unalienable right to life, lil>erty, and the pursuit of happiness. 

Being subject to the same laws, to which the slaves of Vir- 
ginia and INlaryland were subject before the cession of the 
District to the general government, it is unnecessary to dwell 
at length on the circumstances of their condition. These it is 
presumed will be sulliciently presented in discussing the 
general topic of slavery in the W'hole country. It may not be 
amiss, however, to remark that among the powers conferred 
by the act of Congress, incorporating the city of Washington, 
is that of restraining and prohibiting "the nightly and other 
disorderly meetings of the slaves, free negroes and mulattoes, 
and to punish such slaves by whipping, not exceeding forty 
stripes ;" and that among the perquisites of the constables of 
the city, as prescribed by the corporation, is one of 50 cents, 
"for each slave publickly whi])pcd by them." (Act of in- 
corporation, sec. S, and city laws, p. 97.) 

But the great and crying abomination to which we would 
invite particular attention, is the traffic in human flesh, which 
is actively and extensively carried on in the District, and be- 
tween it and the several slaveholding states. We cannot see 
that this traffic, tolerated though it be, nay protected even by 
the laws of Congress, is at all surpassed in atrocity or exceeded 
in any dark shade of immorality by the African slave trade 
itself, which the same body has declared to be piracy and 
punishable with death. The District is in truth, what it has 
been so often and justly styled, THE SLAVE JNIARKETof 
America. It has its established slave factories, where for 400 
dollars a year, men are licensed " to trade or traffic in slaves 
for profit, whether as agents or otherwise," (city laws, p. 249) 
and where the victims of oppression are congregated from ad- 
joining states like cattle at a fair, and purchasers from various 
sections of the Union resort to procure "stock" for their 
plantations, or "servants" for other purposes. Even members 
of Congress and secretaries of state, are said to have sometimes 



64 PROCEEDINGS OF THE PENNSYLVANIA 

availed themselves of the convenience afforded by their at- 
tendance on the public business at Washington, to purchase 
slaves in this national slave mart; thus receiving from the 
public treasury, the amount of travelling expenses incurred in 
an expedition, differing in no essential feature, from a piratical 
voyage to Africa for the purchase of the same kind of mer- 
chandise.^ 

The extent of this traffic may be inferred from the tenor of 
the standing advertisements of the respective dealers, in the 
District, as they appear in the papers of Washington city. 
These present to the eye of a foreigner, a most singular com- 
mentary on our professions of liberty and equal rights, and 
exhibit at once the extent of the traffic and the lamentably 
corrupt state of that public sentiment, which can tolerate the 
prosecution of such a base and infamous business. 

It is unnecessary, perhaps improper, since that more appro- 
priately belongs to another committee, to present in detail the 
subject of this American slave trade — a trade which converts 
the very sanctuary of liberty into a shrine of mammon, where 
not only human victims are immolated with all the disgusting 
formalities of the hateful rite, but common humanity, the 
principles of the Declaration of Independence, the consistency 
and honour of the nation, its reputation in other lands, and 
more than all, that righteousness which alone can be its ex- 
altation, and that justice Avhich is its only assurance of 
heaven's protection and blessing, are offered as a whole burnt 
offering on the demon's altar. But we cannot relinquish the 
subject without adverting to the fact that the nation's property 
is perverted from its legitimate uses to furnish facilities to this 
iniquitous traffic. The public prisons of Washington and 
Alexandria, built and repaired with the people's money, and 
under the care of keepers paid with the people's money, are 
converted into storehouses for human merchandize — into de- 
pots for slaves collected in the country around, until a number 
are brought in sufficient to form a coffle or a cargo for a 
southern or a south-western market. "From a statement 
published by a keeper of a jail in Washington, it appears that 
in five years, upwards of 450 coloured persons were committed 

* At the last session of Congress, Senator Moore, of Alabama, in his 
place in the Senate of the United States, declared, as one of his reasons 
against entertaining the abolition petitions, that himself and his colleagues 
had bought slaves for their plantations, from the slave factories and hu- 
man shambles of the District of Columbia. See report of Congressional 
proceedings in the National Intelligencer, for the early part of 18.30. 



ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION. 65 

to the national prison in that one city, for safe lcccj)ing ; that 
is until they could be disposed of in the course of the slave 
trade ; besides nearly three hundred who had been taken up 
as runaways."* This fact, deeply disgraceful as it is to the 
nation, is a complete refutation of the objection that we of the 
North have nothing to do with slavery. 

In this connection, it will be proper to allude to the condi- 
tion of the free coloured )>cople, residing in, or coming into the 
District, and to the laws in relation to them which tliere exist. 
The presumption, in the case of coloured persons, being con- 
trary to ail principles of cominon law and common justice, in 
favour of slavery and not of liberty, every person of that abused 
and injured class is obliged io prove himself a freeman, which 
if he fill to do, he is liable to be arrested as a fugitive slave 
and sold into perj)etual bondage. Nor is this the only oppres- 
sive condition of continued freedom which is exacted from 
him. In May 1827, the corporation of Washington enacted 
that every free negro or mulatto, whether male or female, 
who may come to the city of Washington to reside, shall 
within 30 days thereafter, exhibit to the ma3^or of the city 
satisfactory evidence of his title to freedom, to be recorded 
by the register, and enter into a bond, with two freehold 
sureties, in the penalty of five hundred dollars, conditioned on 
his good conduct, that he will not become chargeable to the 
city for the space of twelve months, to be renewed every year 
for three years, and on failure to do so, he shall be ordered 
forthwith to depart the city, or be committed to the work 
house, not exceeding twelve months in any one commit- 
ment! — City Laws, p. 19S. 

And it has been recently stated that a late enactment of 
that corporation is still more oppressive than that above quoted, 
and that bonds in the sum of >> 1000, with// i-t' freehold sureties 
are required, instead of the less sum and number as before. 

In addition to the other liabilities of our free coloured fel- 
low-citizens in that district, is that of being kidnapped without 
law, and against law, even after they have conformed to all 
the unrighteous and tyrannical requisitions of the laws. 
When we consider how great is their insecurity against the 
perpetration of this crime, even in our own free slate, nay, in 
those still farther distant than ours from the slaveholding 
portion of the country, in New York, and even in New 
England; we may form some estimate of the degree of ex- 

* See Miner's speech in House HejiresentiUives in 1829. 
9 



66 PROCEEDINGS OF THE PENNSYLVANIA 

posure which exists in the very midst of slavery, where law 
and public sentiment are alike arrayed against the coloured 
man, and alike formed on the assumption that policy requires 
his condition to be made as uncomfortable as may be, that he 
may be forced to choose between submission to bondage, and 
exile from his native land. 

For abundant information on the several points here pre- 
sented, we would refer to the speech of Charles Miner, in the 
lower house of Congress in 1829, and the preamble adopted 
by the house itself, i-n relation to slavery in the District. 
And we trust we may be permitted to say that, with the honest 
pride of Pennsylvanians we refer to the name of Miner, a 
representative of our own state, as that of the first man who 
bearded the lion of slavery in his den, and defended manfully on 
the floor of Congress, the cause of the helpless and oppressed, of 
the suffering and the dumb. We would also refer to the able 
speeches of other members since made, and to the report on 
this subject of the New England Convention, in 1834. 

With all the oppression and injustice practised in the Dis- 
trict, we, the citizens of Pennsylvania, are intimately connect- 
ed. The Congress in which we are directly represented, 
controls that District ; the laws of the city of Washington, 
from which quotations have been made, derive all their 
authority from the act of Congress incorporating the city, 
and which provides among other things that the corporation 
shall have power " to prescribe the terms and conditions upon 
which free negroes and mulattoes may reside in the city," 
(city laws pp. 6, 11, 1833); our money aids, as has been 
shown, in sustaining the slave trade, and our influence in 
sustaining the system of slavery in that heart of our republic; 
our share in the nation's reputation is sacrificed by the exist- 
ence of this trade and this system, and therefore we are em- 
phatically minding our own business, while labouring by all 
lawful and moral means, to procure their immediate and total 
abolition. 

The Congress of the nation having " exclusive legislation, 
in all cases whatsoever," in the District of Columbia, we 
conceive that there can be no reasonable doubt of the consti- 
tutional power of that body to legislate slavery out of existence 
in the District, unless the case of slavery be no case whatsoever, 
or " exclusive legislation" means that legislation is excluded. 
At all events, we are confident, that the Pennsylvania doctrine 
is that Congress has this power. We believe that on this 
point her creed is the same now as in 1S28, when the legis- 



ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION. 67 

latiire of the state instructed her representatives in the 
national legislature to vote for abolition. Nor was the 
constitutional power of Congress to effect that object ever 
denied or doubted until recently — until the arising of a new 
school of politicians, who, under the imposing apjjeliation of 
the state rights party, seem, if we may judge the tree by its 
fruits, to hold the doctrine that each slaveholding state has a 
right to meddle with the affairs, infringe the rights of sove- 
reignty, and dictate the policy and the legislation of the free 
states, while exempted themselves from any rule but their 
own caprice — who, in short, appear to entertain mucli the 
same ideas of state rights, as did the honest son of Krin of 
liberty, who, as the story goes, expressed his unfeigned asto- 
nishment that he should be arrested for knocking; a man down 
in a free country! The assent, for a long time unanimous, to 
the proposition, that the abolition of slavery in the District is 
within the constitutional power of Congress, is strong pre- 
sumptive proof of its correctness. And at the present time, 
though some violent advocates of slavery do deny, we believe 
the vast majority of the people still admit the truth of the 
proposition. Certain we are, that some of the most distin- 
guished statesmen and constitutional lawyers in the country, 
both those who favour and those who oppose the actual exer- 
cise of the power, do admit its existence. It is sufficient to 
name from among these, the President elect, INIartin Van 
Buren, his illustrious competitor, Daniel Webster, and one of 
his eminent predecessors, John Quincy Adams. If then we 
are in error, we are so in no mean society. 

To these considerations we would add, that when the con- 
stitution was first sent to the states to be ratified, two — Vir- 
ginia and Georgia, if we are rightly informed — proposed 
amendments in this very particular of legislation, so that the 
power of Congress should extend not to all cases whatsoever, 
but only to the police regulations of the District. These 
amendments were negatived by the continental Congress, and 
on being sent back to the states the article was ratified as it 
now stands. Hence we infer that those states fully understood 
the question as we now understand it. 

Again, if Congress has not this power in regard to the 
District, no body whatever has it, and slavery never can be 
made illegal there. Of this fact, the framers of the constitution 
must have been aware, and it is an impeachment of their 
intelligence, their patriotism, and their morality, to su[)pose 



6S PROCEEPIXGS OF THK PENNSYLVANIA 

tliev would liave placed the District in such an unhappy and 
anomalous predicament. We cannot helieve they did so, and 
therefore we adopt the only conclusion by which we can 
avoid casting such an imputation on their characters — viz. 
that the constitution does give Congress the power for which 
we contend. 

We are aware that it is sometimes urged that the acts of 
cession made reservations which are incompatible with the 
possession by Congress of the alleged power. To this, we 
reply, that if such were the fact, it would not affect the 
argument ; for the constitution being the supreme law, every 
act of state legislation incompatible with its provisions must 
of course be of no efiect. The constitution, then, having 
already provided that Congress should have power of 
" exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever," in such 
District as should be ceded to it as the seat of government, 
any state enactment limiting that power must itself be 
absolutely null and void. But as a further reply, we copy so 
much of the acts of cession themselves as bear at all on the 
question, from which it will appear that the supposed limitation 
does not, in fact, exist. 



ACT OF CESSION FROM MARYLAND. 

December 23,1788, the General Assembly voted, "That 
the Representatives of this state, &c. be, and they are hereby 
authorized and required, on the behalf of this state, to cede to 
the Congress of the United States any District in this State, 
not exceeding ten miles square, which Congress may fix upon 
and accept for the seat of government of the United States." 



ACT OF CESSION FROM VIRGINIA. 

December 3, 1789, the General Assembly enacted "That 
a tract of country not exceeding ten miles square, or any less 
quantity, &c. shall be, and the same is hereby forever ceded 
and relinquished to the Congress and government of the 
United States, in full and absolute right, and exclusive 
jurisdiction, as icell of soil as of jyersons residing or to 
reside thereon, pursuant to the tenor and effect of the eighth 
section of the first article of the constitution of the government 
of the United States. 



A\ ri-SI.AVEUV CONVENTIOX. ()f» 

"Provided, That nothing licrein contained shall be con- 
strued to vest in the United States the right of property in 
the soil, or to affect the right of individuals therein, otherwise 
than the same shall or may be transferrctl by such individuals 
to the United vStates. 

" And provided also, Tiiat the jurisdiction of the laws of 
this commonwealth, over the persons and property of indi- 
viduals residing within the limits of the cession aforesaid, 
shall not cease or determine until Congress, having accepted 
the said cession, shall by law, provide for the government 
thereof, under their jurisdiction, in manner provided by the 
article of the constitution before recited." 

It will here be seen that Maryland annexes to the cession, no 
proviso whatever, and Virginia none but a reservation of the 
right of property in the soil, and the rights of individuals 
therein, — i. e. in the soil, and a proviso that the laws of 
Virginia should remain in force in the ceded territory, till 
the acceptance of the cession, and the enactment by Congress 
of other laws for its government. Neither of these provisos, 
limits or attempts to limit the legislative power of Congress, 
but both the reference in the act of cession to the section of 
the constitution giving that power, and the proviso in relation 
to the temporary continuance of the Virginia laws, clearly 
imply the understanding of Virginia, that the power was still 
unlimited. The same understanding in the mind of Congress 
is evident from the provision of the act of acceptance, by 
which the laws of the respective states should remain in force, 
each, in its own portion of the District, "till Congress should 
otherwise by law provide." 

If Congress has a clear and perfect right to abolish slavery 
and the slave trade in the District, the constituents of that 
body have certainly an equally clear and perfect right to 
memorialize in favour of such abolition. The existence of 
such a right is, we think, put beyond a shadow of doubt by 
the language of the constitution itself in tlie third article of 
the amendments, which secures " the right of the people 
peaceably to assemble and petition the government for a redress 
of grievances." 

Believing, then, that in regard to slavery and the slave 
trade in the District, we have a duty to perform ; that till we 
perform it we are particii)ators in the guilt of the atrocious 
system and the detestable trade ; that Congress has the 
constitutional power to abolish them, and we the full right to 



70 PROCEEDINGS OF THE PENNSYLVANIA 

ask that abolition ; that as long as it is delayed, the country 
is justly disgraced in the eyes of the world, and exposed to 
the righteous judgment of Heaven ; we recommend that 
measures be taken by this Convention, to give to every inha- 
bitant of Pennsylvania, male and female, of suitable age and 
sound mind, an opportunity, during the present year, to sign 
a memorial to Congress for the immediate abolition of slavery 
and the slave trade in the District of Columbia. 

To the citizens of the District we would address ourselves 
in the language of conciliation and good will. Fellow-citizens 
as they are, and subject to the control of that sovereign 
legislature, which is composed in part of our representatives, 
which representatives will doubtless, ere long, demand the 
abolition of slavery among them, we consider it but just to 
aver our earnest desire for their welfare. Believing, that in 
all cases, the abolition of that horrible system against which 
we contend, would be safe, happy, and profitable, our desires 
on this subject are accompanied with a sure persuasion of their 
individual benefit. Will it be no gain to establish free labour 
for that of slaves ; no gain to sleep and eat securely, instead 
of in terror ? And at what price can the consciousness of 
doing justly be estimated ? Not to expatiate on this subject, 
let our fellow-citizens in that District be assured, we have no 
sinister ends to gain, and they will lose nothing, but gain all 
by the abolition of slavery. And at the same time, let them 
be equally assured, that while the cries of humanity can find 
sympathy in our hearts, we shall never cease our efforts to 
release those who suffer. Slavery must fall. The day is not 
far distant, and the sooner our fellow-citizens in that District 
consent to its destruction among themselves, the better. In 
the name of humanity, justice and truth, we entreat them to 
examine the subject dispassionately, and to use that means 
which is equally in their power and ours, viz: — to petition 
Congress for the removal of slavery among themselves. 

The business Committee reported the following resolution 
which was unanimously adopted. 

Resolved, That we hail with great encouragement, the 
efforts that arc being made by females in the promotion of 
Universal Liberty, throughout our favoured land, and that we 
recognise in their sympathy and action, the influence they 
must exert in the great struggle for Human Rights. 



ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION. 71 

J: Blanchard seconded the resolution. No one, he said, 
could compute the mighty sum of female inihience in hehalf 
of oppressed humanity. It was a female who published the 
pamphlet whicli in the hands of Providence wrought out the 
deliverance of 800,000 bondsmen of Great Britain. — It was 
the work of Elizabeth Heyrich, of the Society of Friends, 
which first awoke Wilberforce and his coadjutors from that 
dream of 'gradualism into which they had fallen, and with 
which they were slumbering at ease, while the mill of Des- 
potism still ground on, until the blood of its victims had risen 
to the bridle bits of the horses around it. Who, he asked, 
were the conservators and assertors of free discussion amidst 
the Boston mob, which " in broadcloth and daylight" howled 
around the assembled advocates of the oppressed ? Wo:\rEN 
— the female abolitionists of Boston. He would mention the 
name of Angelina E. Grimke — thatdaughter ofthe South who 
had consecrated herself to the holy cause of Liberty. Deli- 
cacy forbid him to speak of the devoted female friends of the 
enslaved in Pennsylvania. But of one who was now no 
more, he would speak. — Elizabeth Margaret Chandler — a 
sainted spirit, dropped down for a brief space upon our earth, 
and now shining with the stars in the firmament of God 
forever. There was, he said, something in the peculiar con- 
dition of woman which fitted her for a right conception of 
her duties. She had not, like man, to mingle with the world 
and grow familiar with its sophistry, and imbibe its own 
hard-hearted ness. She relied with more implicit confidence, 
and with a holier hope upon the promises of God. However 
the storm of persecution might howl around her, she felt 
assured of the ultimate triumph of the right. Of her it had 
been truly as well as beautifully said, on another occasion — 

" Not she with trait'rous kiss her Saviour stung — 
Not she denied him with unhol}' tongue. — 
She, when disciples shrank, could danger brave, 
Last at the cross, and earliest at the grave !" 

Lewis Tappan offered a few remarks, commending the 
perseverance which continues its importunity in spite of 
repeated repulses, like that of the poor widow, who " by her 
continual coming" obtained redress for her wrongs, with "an 
unjust judge that feared not God nor regarded man." 

C. C. Burleigh. But it is not said that even he was so 
hardy as to regard not woman. 



l2 Pi40CEEL»INGS OF TllV. rENKSYLVANI A 

Mention has been made of the steadfastness and moral 
courage of the females of Boston. I had an opportunity of 
witnessing the outrages of that ferocious mob, and the un- 
shrinliing and calm courage with which it was met by the 
devoted band of female abolitionists. Amidst the howl of 
the gathered multitude, were heard the clear tones of a 
female's voice, rising in prayer to God, untremulous and 
unbroken. Talk of weak, timid woman ! Sir, we do not 
want, in this cause, the brute courage of the warrior, the 
courage which prompts him to rush to the field of battle, and 
to the mouth of the exploding cannon. No! we want that 
courage which can calmly meet shame, reproach, and insult, 
in the path of duty, offering no violence itself, and unawed 
by the violence of others. Such courage had been displayed 
by woman in the cause of emancipation. Her influence in 
this cause has been already widely felt : it m.ay be made ten- 
fold more terrible to the oppressor. It was said by one of 
old: "Woman is the strongest, but, above all things, Truth 
beareth away the victory!" Here Truth and Woman are 
united. 

Nor is it only from the fair daughters of our land, that the 
cause of human freedom derives essential aid. Facts might 
be recited here, showing the devotedness of coloured females 
to that cause, and the importance of the services which they have 
rendered it. One woman I know in the city of New York, 
who, though her complexion is much darker than that of the 
favoured caste, has a soul as white, a heart as noble, as bene- 
volent, as generous as the fairest of her sisters. She was 
once a slave. By her own exertions she has not only become 
herself free, but has rescued from bondage eleven of her 
fellow sufferers, and is still devoting her time, her efforts, and 
the money her honest and persevering industry has acquired, 
to this work of humanity. 

Allusion has been made to Margaret Chandler. She has 
indeed given us a bright example of woman's power in deeds 
of mercy. What an influence have the productions of her 
pen, eloquent in truth and deep natural feeling, already exerted, 
v/hat an influence they must continue to exert on the public 
sentiment of this nation! 

In a touchingly simple and beautiful allegory, she has de- 
scribed the effect of woman's sympathy for the suffering, and 
has disclosed the secret of her power. I would I could give 
it to you in her own language of moving pathos, but since 



ANTI-SLAVERY CONVEXTION. 73 

my memory will not enaljlc mo to do this, I must be content 
to repeat its substance in such words as I can find. 

The angel of Justice looked down upon a guilty world, and 
seeing how man oppresses his fellow man, anil contemns her 
warnings and admonitions; " Father," she says, " give me 
my sword, that I may smite the transgressors from before my 
face." But the young angel of Philanthropy, with tears and 
melting tones and looks of beseeching earnestness, entreats 
her to delay unsheathing the sword for vengeance. "I will 
descend with thee, and plead with the sinning one for his 
suffering brother ; will win from him an offering of repent- 
ance, and remove the heavy shackles of the slave." Mercy 
bent over him as he presented his petition, and re-urged the 
request with her appealing glance to the Heavenly Throne. 
It was heard — it was granted. Till the sun should go down, 
Philanthropy was permitted to labour for the release of the 
bondman; for the preservation of the oppressor. Eagerly he 
assumed the task, but w^ith success little answerable to his 
devoted zeal. 

Evening approached. The western sunbeams fell aslani 
upon the stream by which Justice stood, leaning on her scab- 
bard, eyeing intently the persevering efforts of Philanthrop)', 
to remove the galling chains which clanked on the limbs of a 
hopeless company, toiling and sighing, and fainting before 
him. She pointed, with a glance of stern significance, to the 
sinking sun, whose disappearance was to be the signal for the 
work of retribution to begin. Philanthropy redoubled his 
exertions, though his heart well-nigh sank within him as 
nought but chilling repulses met his fervent appeals. He 
called on man to aid him, but gazing a moment with cold 
indifference, man passed on. He spoke of the captive's woes, 
but man refused to hear. He pointed to Justice, who stood in 
a threatening attitude, bending her angry frown upon the 
unrelenling tyrant, and even now extending her hand to lift 
her glittering blade — but prejudice and pride, the love of 
gold, and the lust of power, were stronger than even the 
menace of dreadful retribution. 

Discouraged, dispirited and almost yielding to despair, he 
turned to woman — he pointed to her sister's toil-worn frame, 
seamed with the bloody traces of the scourge — he told of her 
helplessness, her degradation, of the angiush of her soul, of 
her heart-strings rent and bleeding, and (juivering with agony, 
and her trembling voice feebly, l)ut urgenlly, pleading for 

10 



74 PROCEKDINGS OF THE PEKNSYEVANIA 

sympathy and help. Woman heard ihc call — she felt the 
force of the appeal — her heart bled for the wretched ones, 
but she felt, too, that her hand was weak and her strength 
inadequate to the sufferers' relief. She bowed her head and 
wept over them, in hopeless sorrow, but her tears were not 
shed in vain. They rusted the iron on which they fell, and 
the angel of Philanthropy raised an exulting shout of victory 
as he struck off the crumbling chains, and bade Justice sheath 
again her vengeful blade, 

Lewis Tappan said he would mention a few facts. The 
Executive Committee of the Anti-Slavery Society last year 
suggested to Mrs. Child the idea of writing " The Fountain,'" 
a beautiful little book, containing a text of scripture and ap- 
propriate selections from anti-slavery writings, for every day 
in the year. In twenty-four hours afterwards, they received 
one-half of the manuscript for the volume. Angelina E. 
Grimke had been mentioned. She was now in New York, 
holding meetings every week, in different parts of the city, 
at which are assembled from three hundred to five hundred 
ladies. Her sister, Sarah M. Grimke, has now in press, an 
Address to the Clergy of the South. It is not inferior to the 
Appeal of Angelina to the Women of the South. 

He said he wished to say a word in reference to a coloured 
woman. Hester Laing, a coloured woman in New York, had 
delivered herself and eleven other persons from slavery, c^ 
an expense of three thousand dollars, earned by herself! 
She was a woman of superior intellect; Judge Jay had told 
him that he had never conversed with a more sensible woman 
in his life. 

A. Ji. Phelps stated that this same woman had, a few days 
before, brought into the Anti-Slavery Office, in New York, 
six hundred names to a petition for the abolition of Slavery 
in the District of Columbia, all procured by herself. 

The following resolutions were then called up and adopted. 

Resolved, That whilst we have experienced with unspeak- 
able satisfaction, the unswerving advance of our principles 
throughout the free states, and their hearty adoption by many 
of our southern brethren, we also hail with thankfulness, the 
cheering evidence that our caupe is appreciated by the inhabi- 



ANTI-SLAVEKY CONVENTION. 75 

tants of other lands, and that the love of the God of the op- 
pressed has united them in symi)athy with us. 

Resolved, That we regard with decided approhation, the 
course of those editors who have nobly dared to vindicate the 
rights and plead the cause of the oppressed, and earnestly recom- 
mend the various Anti-Slavery Societies thi'oughout the State, 
and individuals favourable to the cause of immediate emanci- 
pation, to patronise sucli editors and periodicals as advocate 
our measures, irrespective of the political parties to which 
they may belong. 

Resolved, That being friends of peace, and anxious to ex- 
tend the mild and pacific principles of our religion, we would 
exhort every victim of oppression, whatever provocations he 
may have received, to banish from his mind all desires of 
claiming a redress of grievances by violent means, and to put 
his trust in a higher power, who, in due season, will assuredly 
redress the wrongs of his people. 

Resolved, That our cause being based upon the immutable 
principles of justice, lue disavoio all connexion whatever 
ivith any political party or men, except so far as they carry 
into practice the doctrines of universal liberty, contained in 
the Declaration of our National Inde{)endence. 

Resolved, That the coloured people of this land, suffering 
hardships almost beyond endurance — indignities multiplied 
beyond description — yet patiently and quietl}- waiting until 
they can be peaceably restored to their lost rights, are entitled 
to our sympathy and commiseration. 

Resolved, That having put our hands to the plough of li- 
berty, we give our sacred pledge never to look back until the 
noxious weed of Slavery shall be exterminated from the Ame- 
rican soil. 

A committee consisting of A. Graydon, William Root, L. 
C. Gunn, Daniel Neall, jr., William H. Johnson and Eli Dillin, 
were appointed to prepare a draft of an address to the people 
of Pennsylvania, showing that the system of slavery causes 
labour at the north to be regarded as disgraceful, and honest 
industry as disreputable. — The committee were instructed to 
report the same to the Convention at its afternoon session. 

Adjourned to 3 o'clock, afternoon. 

The Convention having again assembled; 

The committee appointed at last sitting, presented a report 



76 PROCEEDINGS OF THE PENNSYLVAKIA 

which was adopted and referred to the publishing committee 
witli discretionary power. 

On motion, it was 

Resolved.) That the publishing committee be instructed to 
publish a suitable number of copies of the minutes of the pro- 
ceedings of this Convention, and send a copy to each of its 
members. 

Resolved, That the Preamble and Constitution of the State 
Anti-Slavery Society, and also our proceedings and addresses, 
or so much thereof, as the before named committee may deem 
necessary, be translated and published in the German lan- 
guage. 

The committee to prepare an address to the coloured peo- 
ple of this state reported, and their report was adopted and 
ordered to be signed by the officers of the Convention, 

A resolution was introduced recommending to abolitionists 
to vote for no candidates for political preferment, unless they 
would support the principles of universal freedom and of po- 
litical equality. 

Samuel Webb, of Philadelphia, remarked that whether 
the resolution passed or not, all triLe abolitionists would see 
to it, that they gave their votes consistently with their avowed 
principles. 

E. Dillin opposed it. The resolution might be misun- 
derstood. He was for avoiding all connection with party po- 
litics. He was not in favour of forming an Abolition party, 
nor of joining with any one of the political divisions of the 
day. He was himself a Van Burcn man, attached to that par- 
ty upon principle, but he wished the abolitionists to avoid, 
as abolitionists, any connexion with that party or any 
other. 

J. G. VVhittier, of Massachusetts, asked leave of the Con- 
vention to say a word on the subject. He did not speak as a 
political partisan. As an abolitionist, he had abjured all the 
mere party politics of the day. W\i, he asked, did we not 
seek the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia? — 
Was it not the object of our petitions all over the country? 
Are we in earnest in this matter? Why then give our votes 
one day for a member of Congress, who we know will throw 



ANTI-SLAVEUY CONVENTION. 77 

our petitions, unread, upon the table, and the next day send 
him these petitions, and wonder tliat lie does not make an 
abolition speech upon them? Such conduct «-as inconceivably- 
ridiculous. So long as we gave our votes in favour of such 
men at home, so long would they vote ui^ainst us in Congress, 
and we had no right to complain. 

James Lou^-head, of Pittsburg, was opposed to the passage 
of the resolution. Ours was a moral warfare. Its unpopu- 
larity had thus fiir kept our ranks pure. He dreaded to see 
the day, when from motives of self-aggrandizement, unprin- 
cipled politicians should profess an attachment to our cause. 

Gentlemen in favour of the resolution, explained. They 
were opposed to the formation of a distinct political party — 
utterly and sincerely. They only desired that abolitionists 
should support good men, by whomsoever nominated, 
whether Van Euren, Whig, or Anti-Mason — who were in 
favour of abolition in the District of Columbia, and of granting 
to the people of colour of this state, the trial by jury, when 
claimed as fugitive slaves. 

Benjamin Lundy was opposed to all parties, except when 
these parties favoured the cause of liberty. He could not, 
for one, forget his duty to the slave, even at the ballot-box. 
After some further discussion the resolution was, by common 
consent, withdrawn. 

It was then voted that this Convention raise the sum of 
^10,000, to be paid to the parent Society within the coming 
year. A subscription was entered into, and while pledges 
for various amounts were being handed in, Lewis Tappan on 
behalf of the Executive Committee of the said society, stated 
that if they succeeded in raising the sum named, C. C. Burleigh 
should be retained, as a lecturer in this State, for one year; 
^7,587 were subscribed. 

It was then voted, that this meeting will resolve itself into 
a State Society, which was accordingly done. 

The Society then pledged itself for $2,413, the balance of 
the sum voted to be raised by the Convention for the use of 
the American Anti-Slavery Society. It was then 

Resolved, That the moneys pledged to this Society, by the 
societies or individuals located or residing in the Counties 
under the management of the Western Executive Committee. 



7S PllOCEEDIXGS OF THE CONVENTION. 

be placed under their control; — and that the moneys pledged 
by the societies or individuals, located or residing in the 
eastern section of the state, be under the control of the 
Eastern Executive Committee. 

One of the Vice Presidents informed the meeting that the 
Board of Managers had met on the preceding evening, and 
elected the following named gentlemen as members of the 
Executive Committees for the ensuing year. 

FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT. 

Samuel Webb, William H. Scott, 

Wm. Harned, Wm. H. Johnson, 

James Wood, Lindley Coates. 

FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT. 

Philip Mowry, John Dickinson, 

W. H. Clark, George Scott, 

W. H. Howell, E. Estep. 

He also stated that they had selected Harrisburg as the 
most eligible place for holding the first annual meeting of the 
Society. 

Resolved, That the Executive Committees of the Pennsyl- 
vania State Anti-Slavery Society, located in Philadelphia 
and Pittsburg, be requested to ascertain the names and ages 
of all persons legally held as slaves, in their respective coun- 
ties in this State, and the names of those who hold them as 
property, — and the places where they reside, — and report the 
result of their investigations at the next annual meeting. The 
Executive Committees were directed to appoint five or more 
delegates from the Eastern and Western districts to represent 
this Society at the next annual meeting of the American Anti- 
Slavery Society. The business for which the members of 
this body assembled, being now accomplished, it was 

Resolved, That this Meeting Adjourn. 



ADDRESS, 

To the Coloured People of the Cominomcealth of 
Pennsylvania. 

The past, the present and the future condition of the coloured 
population of our country, is a subject interesting to the coloured 
people generally, and also to every friend of equal justice an(f 
raiioiial liberty in these United States. 

Let us cast the mantle of charity over the past: it cannot now 
be recalled, however it may be deplored: and as "two wrongs will 
never make one right," let us leave what has been already suffered 
to Him to whom all men must render "an account for the deeds 
done in the body." 

The present situation of the coloured portion of the people of 
this country, is very peculiar. — Suffering hardships almost beyond 
endurance, indignities multiplied beyond description, while their 
numbers are increasing with almost unparalleled rapidity, you re- 
mind us of the Lord's people when suffering under Kgyptian bon- 
dage ." and as it was with them, so will it be with you, if you can 
be preserved in patience, until the Lord's own time shall arrive — 
and eorne it will. 

There have been manv projects proposed to hasten this time; 
some of them may have had that tendency, but others as evidently 
have retarded it. 

It is very desirable that some effectual means should be adopted 
to aid in bringing about such a state of public feeling as will induce 
the whites freely and peaceably to elevate you from that state of 
thraldom and degradation to which, as a people, you have been so 
long subjected, and allow you modestly and thankfully to take that 
station in society whicii your and our Creator designed for you. 

That clause in our Declaration of Independence which declares 
that " all men are created free and equal," as well as that of still 
higher authority, that God " hath made of one blood all men," ap- 
plies no less to you, than to us. — "God is just, and his justice will 
not sleep for ever." Therefore be very careful to do nothing that 
wiH tend to retard the great work of emancipation, but "stand still 
and see the salvation of the Lord.". — Whenever you are restored 
to your lost rights, it will be Hif work. The arm of flesh cannot 
accomplish it; but "His arm is not shortened that it cannot save, 
neither is his ear heavy that it cannot hear." He is mighty to 
save, and able to deliver, to the uttermost, all who put their trust 
in Him. 



so ADDRESS TO THE 

The best means you can adopt to promote the great work of uni- 
versal emancipation — not only emancipation from actual personal 
bondage, but from the degradation which has hitherto so unjustly 
attached to your colour, is in its nature so simple, that you may 
think, it incapable of producing such great effects. But when we 
consider that the most simple machines are often the most 
powerful, and the greater the simplicity (^generally speaking) 
the more durable and effectual; let us not hastily draw un- 
favourable conclusions from the fact that the plan proposed is 
simple, is easily tried, and is beyond the power of your enemies 
to prevent, to pervert, or to frustrate. 

It is not to be accomplished by using persuasion or threats to 
prevail upon you to remove to a foreign land; to break up your 
attachments here, and to force you to form new connexions in 
Africa: that is no more your native country than England, Ireland, 
or Germany is the native country of the whites. Your forefathers 
came from Africa, ours from Europe: but it does not therefore fol- 
low that you are Africans, or we Europeans. 

Neither is it by an appeal to your numerical strength that you 
will promote immediate emancipation. On the contrary, such an 
appeal would be tlie most effectual means you could adopt to livet 
the chains of those who are in bondage, and to raise an insur- 
mountable barrier to prevent those of you who are free, from en- 
joying that estimation in society which a constant, steady course 
of good conduct on your part cannot fail, sooner or later, to secure 
for you. 

The worst thing you can do is, to engage in broils and commo- 
tions — avoid as far as possible all heats of passion, and all feelings 
of revenge. There is nothing which would please your enemies 
more than to be able to goad you on to some rash act — therefore 
"be ve wise as serpents, and harmless as doves." 

Some of you may not live to see all the blessed effects of your 
good conduct, but the child is now born who will live to see a 
perfect equality so far as the effects of colour are concerned, pro- 
vided you could, one and all, be prevailed upon in sincerit}'' to 
adopt the course we recommend; and just in proportion as you 
individually do so, will the great work of emancipation and resti- 
tution advance. 

As emigration to Africa is not only inexpedient, but impracticable 
to any great extent, and as you cannot and ought not by force -to 
obtain your rights, it will be necessary to look to some other means 
of escape. Let every one of the Coloured people, Male 
OR Female, as far as in their power lies, fulfil all their 
Moral, Social, AND Religious Duties: — This is all you have 
to do to ensure your liberty and equality. Simple as it is, it is a 



COLOUllEP rKOPI.K. 81 

course of conduct which cannot fail to bring down the blessing of 
God upon you. 

" Honour and shame from no condition rise, 
Act well your part, there all the honour lies." 

liBt each of yon fulfil the duties of your respective allotments to 
the very best of your abilities, and God will bless your honest 
upright endeavours — " His promises are sure, — He is the same to 
day, yesterday, and forever — in Him is neither variableness nor 
shadow of turning;" and those who put their trust in him shall 
never be confounded. It is true you will not see all the great 
results of this course of conduct the moment you adopt it. If you 
plant a seed you cannot expect the next day to reap a crop from 
it. The simple course now recommended will take time to pro- 
duce the desired etlect, but its work ivill be sure: and, slow, as it 
is, it will be the quickest, safest, surest mode you can adopt to 
produce the desired results. You may not be fully sensil)le what 
powerful effect it would have upon your white neighbours and 
friends, yea, and upon your enemies, too: — as " soft words turn 
away wrath" so would your modest unassuming deportment and 
your humble, yet tirm and successful endeavours to keep the strict 
path of duty, soften the hearts of your oppressors and force upon 
their minds the undeniable truth that you are of the same flesh and 
blood with themselves — that you are equally the objects of re- 
deeming love, and equally under the protection of Divine Provi- 
dence. 

Often when discussing the propriety and necessity, the justice 
and policy, of abolishing slavery and restoring to the coloured 
people their rights, it has been found, when other arguments failed, 
that to point to the modest unassuming behaviour, upright and 
gentlemanly conduct of many worthy persons among you, has 
proved an unanswerable argument against the fears of those who 
thought that Coloured People were not capable of rightly enjoying 
those privileges which we possess. 

If you pursue the even tenor of your way, gradually rising in 
wealth and respectability, it will do much — very mucli — towards 
bringing about the restoration of your lost rights, and it will 
greatly aid us in the work of emancipating those in bondage. 

In all our cities and large villages, are to be found brelliren and 
sisters of colour, who, by their intelligence, enterprise, virtue and 
piety, endear themselves to the friends of God and man. .Still we 
cannot but lament that so many crowd our large towns, where they 
generally fill menial situations. Much preferable would it be if 
they loved the country, and there engaged in agricultural or me- 
chanical labours. Scarcely any thinii would tend to make them 

II 



S2 ADDKLSS TO THE 

SO generally respected as to cultivate the soil owned by themselves, 
to work in their own shops, and to bring up their children in their 
own families. And much better would it be for those who work 
for others to be contented in the places of their location, gaining 
the confidence of the community where they reside, than to be 
roving about, seeking employment with no well known and esta- 
blished character. 

In dress and manners it is often noticed that portions of the peo- 
ple of colour ape those silly white people who pride themselves in 
their outward adorning to the neglect of their minds. Rather seek 
to distinguish yourselves, beloved friends, by the cultivation of 
your minds, by honest industry, by economy, and by moral con- 
duct. In this way you will have less inclination to collect together 
for frolicking, feasting, and sinful pursuits, practices too often re- 
sorted to, we lament to say, by both white and coloured persons 
who for want of mental employments live to gratify their animal 
propensities. 

We have observed with pleasure, the progress of pacific and 
temperance principles among you, and we heartily desire that every 
man, woman and child in the land should be peaceable and tempe- 
rate in all things. Abstain, we beseech you, from all that intoxi- 
cates, from the use of tobacco, from slave-labour products, from 
gluttony, from every vile and filthy habit, remembering that it is 
enjoined upon us all in the scriptures, "whether ye eat or drink, 
or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." 

We feel anxious that you should embrace every opportunity of 
placing your children in schools, both on week days and on the 
Sabbath. If all the free people of colour were able to read, write 
and cypher, to say nothing of higher branches of study, how useful 
and respectable they would be, even in the eyes of those who con- 
tinue to say they cannot be elevated in this country. Prove that 
you have capacities to acquire and use intellectual stores, that you 
consider knowledge and religion the best inheritance for your chil- 
dren, and you will not fail to gain the respect and confidence to 
which you would be entitled. 

Above all things, bring up your children in the fear of God, be 
yourselves liberal supporters of the institutions of the religion of 
Christ, and while labouring for the body forget not the wants and 
capacities of the immortal soul. 

It is painful to know that prejudices exist among the free people 
of colour with reference to each other, that we consider sinful when 
indulged in by the whites towards the coloured people. If preju- 
dice against colour should not exist any where, least of all among 
you. If a black man despises a mulatto, or a mulatto a black man, 
how can either say to their white brethren, cast out the mote that 
is in thine eye, while they have a beam in their own eye. 



COT.OTTRKn PEOPLK. S3 

We urgently advise all those whom we now address to contri- 
bute, according as the Lord prospers them, to tlie lunds^of the 
anti-slavery societies. One cent a day laid aside for this cause 
by the thirly-eight thousand free people of colour in this state, 
would amount to the sum of 330 dollars a day, and 138,700 dollars 
a year ! 

We hope you will read and circulate the anti-slavery publica- 
tions. They breathe the spirit of peace as well as o( liherfy. 

In conclusion, we lament before God, the prejudices that exist, 
and we exhort you to be patient and faithful in the discharge of 
every duty. Remember that your good conduct will greatly aid 
the eiforls that are making for tlie abolition of slavery, and the en- 
joyment of your rights. While we will do all we can for you, do 
not neglect to do all you can for yourselves. And let us all look 
continually to God, with faith and holy love. 

Signed on behalf and by order of the Convention for forming the 
Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society, at Harrisburg, the 3d day of 
the Second month, (February,) 1837. 

F. J. LE MOYNE, President. 



ADDRESS 

To the Citizens of Pennsylvania. 

It is incumbent on those who associate together, professedly to 
promote the common good, to declare to their fellow citizens their 
objects, and the principles upon which they propose to act. As 
abolitionists, we deem such an avowal of high importance to our 
characters, as men and citizens, and to the promotion of the 
righteous cause we have espoused. We form a part of a nume- 
rous class of men, who have felt themselves called upon to unite 
their influence and their energies for the purpose of accomplishing 
a great moral revolution in the minds of our countrymen, and by 
such means to effect the extinction of one of the mightiest evils, — 
one of the most flagrant sins which can infect our body politic, — a 
a sin and an evil, the enormity of which has been obscured from 
public view from the effect of custom, the influence of great names, 
and above all, the means which it is supposed to offer of enriching 
those who uphold it. It is a sin, too, which is supported by law ; 
which is entrenched by the strong bulwark of official power ; and 
in the support of which, public opinion, the great fountain of law 
is enlisted. Nor is this all ; — the holy principles of religion are 
invoked to sanction it, and learned theologians are to be found, who 
will ingeniously distort the commands of the Almighty, as written 
in the Bible, in support of a system against which nature herself 
cries out. In opposing a sin thus supported by laws and constitu- 
tions ; thus upheld by long established customs and opinions ; de- 
fended by learned divines, and tolerated as a necessary evil, by a 
large portion of the community, it would be remarkable if we were 
not assailed with reproaches — if we were not denounced as disturb- 
ers of the public peace, as fanatics and incendiaries, whose object 
was to overthrow the fair fabric of our government, and then to 
glory in the mischief we had created. Such has been the fate of 
reformers in every age of the world. And the more powerful and 
wide spread the institution which they attack, the more violent and 
clamorous are their opponents. When the distinguished Clarkson 
first advocated the abolition of the slave-trade, before the British 
nation, he was called a fanatic, and an enthusiast, and stood almost 
alone in his disinterested efforts, and yet he has lived to see the 
(lay when to stand up in defence of the slave-trade, or even of 
slavery itself, would be a disgrace to a subject of the British crown. 
It is not therefore extraordinary that our motives should be slandered, 



ADDRESS TO THE 85 

ami our actions despised — that the most opprobrious epithets should 
be liberally heaped uj)on us, and that the vocabulary of lanj^uage 
should be ransacked for words suflk'ieally pointed to express the 
hostility ol' our opponents. But it is extraordinary that in a coun- 
try, the stability of whose liberties depends upon the maintenance 
of the right of i'reedoni of speech and of the press, that men of in- 
fluence slrould be found, who openly attack these most cherished 
riirlits, and invoke the fierce storms of popular fury and violence to 
overwlielm principles, llie justice of which their most injTcnious 
arguments cannot invalidate. How strange the anomaly, that in a 
government, in Avhich the right of free discussion enters as an ele- 
ment, public opinion should absolutely sanction the infliction of 
death, as the penalty for discussing one of the most important ipies- 
tions, connected with her policy ! And although such principles 
scarcely find a place in Pennsylvania, although her sons remain 
free tVom the shackles which would bind their minds, and deny to 
them the right of utterance, yet even she is infested with men so 
recreant to the high and ennobling principles of civil and religious 
liberty, which were established with her very existence as a colony, 
and which have grown with her rising prosperity, as unhesitat- 
ingly to advocate the efHcacy of mob law, and who, unable to grapple 
with the giant strength of truth, address their frothy appeals to the 
ignorant and unwary, whose physical eflbrts they vainly hope will 
arrest her progress, or at least retard her ultimate triumph. When, 
therefore, assaults are made upon our liberties, and when tlie great 
principles of freedom are involved in the issue, it is time that we 
should peaceably rally in their defence, and firmly maintain the 
ground left to us as an inheritance by our forefathers. 

We have associated for the purpose of promoting the abolition 
of American slavery, as existing in thirteen states of this Union, 
and supported by the co-operation of the rest. We denounce 
the whole system, as one of outrage and wrong: — and to prove it 
such, we need only say, that its object is to convert men into pro- 
perty — or, in the language of its supporters, to transform human 
beings, created in the image of God, into "chattels personal to all 
intents and purposes whatsoever." As the necessary consequence 
of such a principle, a system is framed, whereby man shall be re- 
duced to the lowest state of degradation : — the less intelligence he 
possesses, the more safe does he become as property. Thus it is, 
that the laws of the slaveholding states forbid instruction to the 
slave, even in the elements of education. The immortal mind is 
locked up, in order that the body may be used as a mere instrument 
for another's benefit. — Thus it is, too, that man being made a "chat- 
tel personal, to all intents and purposes whatsoever," can be trans- 
ferred to another, just as it may suit the interest or ca|)rice of the 
master. — If he has contracted family ties, if he has olVspring, to 



86 CITIZENS OP PENNSYKVANIA. 

whom he feels the warm attachments which nature has ordained as 
a bond of union, — not only amongst human beings, but even 
amongst the brute creation ; — If, in a word, he has a wife and 
children, parents and kindred, being himself property, he is liable 
at any moment, to be torn from these strong attachments, and to be 
transported to any spot that an unfeeling and cruel tyrant may dic- 
tate. Nor is this all : — though he may be permitted to remain, yet 
his wife and his children are not his ; they also are liable to be 
dragged from him, and consigned to hopeless servitude, in a far 
distant part of our land. On the same principle, the slave, although 
he may till the soil, and labour with his own hands from the break, 
of day until the darkness of night, is cut oft' from all hope of re- 
muneration, and the only stimulus which lightens the toil of the 
labourer, is denied to him. He cannot possess property, nor is he 
permitted to enjoy the fruits of his industry. And why is he thus 
unjustly treated ? The answer is, that he may enable those who 
claim him as property, to revel in luxury and idleness, to the great 
injury of themselves and of the community. 

As another result of the adoption of this principle, the holy ordi- 
nation of matrimony, by which the virtue of woman is protected, 
and without which the moral structure of Society would be de- 
stroyed, is totally disregarded; and woman, that being whose very 
presence should inspire respect, is left a prey to insult and abuse. 
Being the "property" of another, she is not the mistress even of 
her own person, and thus a system of concubinage is established, 
as shocking to humanity, as it is sinful in the siglit of Heaven. 

It is needless for us to enter into lengthy detail, to exhibit the 
miseries and vices which the slave system entails; — every dispas- 
sionate man who examines the subject by the light of reason or 
revelation, must arrive at the conclusion, that the very fundamental 
principle upon which the system is based, is unchristian and anti- 
republican. It might be easy to swell out a volume, which should 
teem with examples of individual distress; which should tell of 
woes too grievous to be borne; of scenes which should touch the 
rhord of sympathy in every heart, which has not ceased to vibrate 
to its impulses. The writings of slaveholders themselves abound 
with such instances; and to these we would refer for information. 
It was a knowledge of the horrors and cruelties, which are the le- 
gitimate fruits of slavery, that wrung from the heart of Jefferson, 
that memorable declaration: "I tremble for my country, when I re- 
flect that God is just, and that his justice will not sleep forever." 

We then aver the fact, that according to the express intentions 
of the slave code, adopted and practically carried out in the slave- 
holding states, the right of property in human beings is claimed 
and exercised ; and that, as a necessary consequence, laws are 
framed expressly designed to reduce men to the level of things; — 



ADDKKSS TO THE 87 

'I'liat these laws are calculated to crush the intellect, to corrupt the 
morals, to degrade the man, and bring him as nearly as possible on 
a level with the brute creation. It requires no argument to prove 
that such a system is at variance with the beneficent designs of the 
Creator, in creating man as an intellectual and moral being, who 
should stand at the head of his creation, and should be responsible 
to him, as the Supreme ruler of the Universe; — while it is equally 
evident, that those who are in the practice of such a system are as- 
suming the Divine prerogatives of Jehovah, by setting up the title 
of ownership to a portion of their fellow men, created by the same 
hand, and endowed with certain inherent rights, "amongst which 
are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." 

If such be the moral character of the system of slavery, it might 
be asked whether it be possible for men of good intentions, and 
of acknowledged moral worth, to be engaged in the sujjport of such 
a system? AVe believe there are men, in the practice of many 
virtues who are slaveholders. Some of our ancestors, for whose 
memories we may entertain the deepest respect, and who may have 
been distinguished in their day for tlie purity of their lives, and the 
excellency of their characters, were perl'.aps slaveholders. Wash- 
ington and Jefl'erson were slaveholders; and the same is true in 
regard to some of tlie most distinguished men of our owai day. — 
But this does not alter the moral character of the system itself, any 
more than the crime of destroying the lives of our fellow men, in 
the fierce conflicts of the battle field, is altered by the participation 
of the patriot in such scenes of devastation and blood. 

The countenance given to wicked practices, or a participation in 
thein by men who are universally reputed to be good, and who on 
most great questions are really exemplary, is one of the strongest 
props by which iniquity is sustained, and affords one of the most 
powerful inducements for those whose eyes have been opened to 
the true character of such evils, to cry aloud against them; continu- 
ally to hold them up in their deformity, and to test them by the light 
of reason and revelation; in order that they may reform the false 
views of their brethren. 

But admitting that the slavery of the Southern slates is a sys- 
tem of unparalleled oppression — that all we have urged against it 
is true — that it is polluting the soil which nourishes it, and is de- 
stroying the peace annd prosperity of its supporters. Yet it may 
be asked what right have the people of Pennsylvania to agitate the 
matter? To this we answer:— That we have no disposition to in- 
terfere, either by law or by violence, with the domestic institutions 
of other states.— The structure of our government would render 
such interference impossible, even if it were designed. But we 
have a duty to perform, in connexion with this subject, which we 
desire faithfully and steaddy to pursue. We are parties in the 



SS CITIZENS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

inainlcnaiice of this odious system. We live under laws which 
oblige us to return the fugitive who seeks protection amongst us from 
the iron grasp of avarice and cruelty. Constitutional obligations 
would oblige us, to buckle on the armour of destruction, and 
fight against our brethren who are contending for their rights. 

We are responsible also for the existence of slavery and the 
slave trade in the District of Columbia. In that space of ten 
miles square, where our representatives annually assemble, to 
transact the business of the nation, and over which Congress 
have exclusive jurisdiction in all cases whatsoever, laws exist 
expressly framed to deprive men of their inherent rights, and these 
laws are supported by us, through our representatives. On this 
spot, consecrated as it were to liberty, and to touch which should 
secure a man's title to the possession of his rights, — even here, 
men are seized and cast into the prisons built and supported in part 
by the money of Pennsylvanians; and in default of exhibiting legal 
evidence of their title to freedom, they are sold as ^^aves to the 
highest bidder, to pay to the government the expense ■ ' ^ they 
have been thus unjustly forced to incur. 

Nor is this all. — In our National domain, in the midst of the 
assembled representatives of a free republic, and before the eyes of 
the ambassadors who represent foreign governments, which we call 
monarchical and despotic, a trade in human beings is carried on, with- 
out a parallel in atrocity and cruelty. We have agreed with other na- 
tions, that the foreign slave trade, or the seizing of men upon the 
coastof Africa, andselling them in any part of the world, is an actof 
piracy, and the man who pursues such a traffic is liable by our 
laws to forfeit his life upon the gallows; — and yet, we blush to de- 
clare it, in the very heart of our Republic, a trade, identical in 
principle, and equally cruel in practice, is openly pursued — is 
sanctioned by law, and participated in as a means of gain by men 
high in power and office. The man who seizes a human being 
on the coast of Africa and ships him to the United States, to be 
sold, is acknowledged to be a pirate and may be punished with 
death ; while he who seizes an infant from the arms of its distracted 
mother, and, in the heart of Republican America, sells that infant 
to the highest bidder, to be shipped to New Orleans, may be con- 
sidered as a respectable citizen, and is suffered to walk abroad in 
security, shielded by the law, and even by the public opinion of 
the community where he resides. Nor is this all. If a freeman 
of Pennsylvania, in the frankness and openness which the truth 
inspires, should visit the Capital of the Nation, and availing himself 
of tlie inherent and constitutional right of freedom of speech and 
of the press, should publish and circulate opinions unfavourable to 
the existence of such wicked practices, he himself is liable to be 
cast into prison as a disturber of the public peace, or to be given 



AUUKESS TO THE 89 

up to the fury of a iVenzied multitude. It is auiongst the events 
of the few past years, that a liiirlily respectable and peaceable citizen 
of the State of New York, suffered a long and severe incarceration, 
on a false charge of having circulated pamphlets, which contained 
sentiments on the subject of slavery, which were enunciated long 
since by Jefferson, and other slaveholders, and even by the Attor- 
ney General of the District, who was unremitting in his efibrls to 
obtain punishment for this innocent and excellent citizen. Mow 
long the hands of tlie same parties will be staid from like attempts 
on the noble champions of liberty, who are so rapidly rising up in 
our National Councils, time only (-an determine. 

There is also another relation in which we stantl connected with 
the slave system, as citizens of the United States, and which 
furnishes us with an opportunity to exorcise an important influence 
in our halls of logisialion. The domestic slave trade, as carried 
on between the Southern and Southwestern states of our Union, 
is a traffic even more enormous in magnitude and cruelly, than the 
foreign slave trade ; its victims, too, are Americans, born upon our 
soil, and many of them scarcely differing from ourselves in that 
badge of servitude, the colour of the skin. There are among them 
men and wom'^n, in whose veins flows the best blood of the so 
called chivalrous and patriotic citizens of the Southern states. 
These, our countrymen, are bought and sold like merchandize, to 
the number of more tlian 120,000 annually — more than double the 
amount ever imported from Africa. Some of the more Northern 
slave states breed negroes, as an article of trade, and are supposed 
to receive as much money from this source, as from all their other 
products exported beside. Fathers sell their own children, and 
men sell their brothers and sisters, for the sake of gain. Oh! hor- 
rible traffic, which sanctions such a violation of nature's laws ! — 
And yet the men who uphold this traflic, will talk of the foreign 
slave trade as the acme of crime against God and their fellow 
men, and will call in the strong arm of law to punish with death 
those who are engaged in it!! 

For the continuance of this internal domestic slave trade, the 
people of the free states are in a great measure responsible. Let 
them but exercise their constitutional rights, and it might be abo- 
lished, and the slave-breeding slates being i)rohibited from export- 
ing their surplus slaves to other slates, would be unable to support 
them on their exhausted soil, and would be obliged to manumit 
them, in order to inspire them with those motives, by which man- 
kind are impelled to labour, and become the thriving and industrious 
tillers of the soil. 

The fourth clause of section eighth, in the first article of ihe 
Constitution of the United States, says that Congress shall have 
power " to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among 

12 



90 CITIZENS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

the acvcral States, and with the Indian tribes." Now the same 
power which enabled Congress to abolish the foreign slave trade, 
may be exercised for the extinction of the trade between the 
states; and it becomes the high duty of the people of the free 
states to urge, through their representatives, the exercise of this 
power. Let petitions be poured in, year after year, in which the 
subject shall occupy a prominent place. — Let our Northern Le- 
gislatures express, in a firm and decided manner, their abhorrence 
of this odious traffic ; and let them urge their representatives to 
exercise their constitutional rights for its extinction. It cannot be 
doubted that there exists, even in the slave states, a strong abhor- 
rence of the men who make this traffic their business; and that by 
the vigourous efforts of public sentiment at the North, the prompt- 
ings of interest, which now induce many of our Southern brethren 
to uphold this traffic, would yield to the force of truth, and to an 
enlightened public opinion ; — and that thus their co-operation 
would be secured, and the day hastened when the shackles must 
fall from the limbs of our degraded and oppressed coloured country- 
men. 

As citizens of the state of Pennsylvania, we are peculiarly 
called upon to stand forth as the champions for the rights of the 
coloured man. To Pennsylvanians belongs the honour of first 
organizing a society for the relief of this oppressed class of our 
fellow men. 

In the year 1775, a Society was formed in Philadelphia, " for 
the relief of Free Negroes unlawfully held in bondage." Its mem- 
bers were amongst the most excellent and virtuous men of that day; 
they were animated by a pure and lofty benevolence, and declare 
in the preamble to their constitution that, " loosing the bonds of 
wickedness, and letting the oppressed go free, is evidently a duty 
incumbent on all the professors of Christianity, but more especially 
at a time when justice, liberty, and the laws of the land are the 
general topics amongst most ranks and stations of men." 

In the year 1787, the objects of the Society were extended, so 
as to comprise, in addition to the relief of free negroes, &c., " the 
promotion of the abolition of Slavery." At this time, the names 
of some of the most distinguished men of the age were enrolled 
amongst its members. The preamble to the constitution suffici- 
ently manifests the ispirit which actuated this worthy band of 
philanthropists, and we commend it to the serious attention of our 
fellow-citizens. 

It is as follows: — 

" It having pleased tlie (Jreator of the world, to make of one flesh all 
the children of men, it becomes them to consult and promote each other's 
happiness, as members of the same family, however diversified they may 
be, by colour, situation, religion, or ditferent states of JSociely. It is more 



ADDRESS TO THE 91 

especially the duty of those persons, who profess to maintain for them- 
selves the rights oliiuman nature, and who acknowledge the obligations of 
Christianity, to use such means as are in their power, to extend the 
blessings of 'freedom to every part of the human race; and, in a more 
particular manner, to such of their fellow creatures as are entitled to 
freedom by the laws and constitution of the United States, and who, not- 
withstanding, are detained in bondage by fraud or violence.' From a 
full conviction of the truth and obligation of these principles, from a desire 
to diffuse them, wherever tlie miseries and vices of slavery exist, and in 
humble confidence of the favour and support of tiie Father of Mankind, the 
subscribers have associated themselves," &c. &c. 

These were the principles and objects of our fatliers. Their 
influence was not confined to the narrow limits of our own slate. 
Their principles were not to be secretly harboured amongst them- 
selves, for fear of ollending evil doers ; but they were to be diffu- 
sed wherever the miseries and vices of slavery existed. Aihongst 
their number, were to be found the great and the good, not only of 
Pennsylvania, but of her sister states; nor did these novices in the 
affairs of State, hesitate to seek the aid of the wise and benevolent 
of other climes, England and France furnished their portion : — 
and the names of Pitt, Clarkson, Sharp, and Lafayette, were not 
considered unworthy of a place in this bright array of virtue and 
benevolence. The modern doctrines of foreign interference had 
not been incorporated into their political creed, and the Legislature 
of Pennsylvania, in 1789, granted an act of incorporation to a 
Society, whose avowed object was to diffuse principles adverse to 
the enslaving of men, and amongst whose number were to be found 
citizens of the kingdoms of Great Britain and France. Thus con- 
stituted and recognised, they wielded an immense moral power, 
the effect of which is now felt amongst their descendants, and the 
redeeming influence of which will, we trust, save our state from 
the disgrace entailed upon some of lier Northern sisters of the 
Union, in " bowing tiie knee to the dark spirit of slavery." 

We have also a duty to perform, in regard to American slavery, 
independently of our participation in the system as parties to the 
Federal compact. We form a part of the National mind; — our 
opinions and actions have an influence upon the perpetuation of 
evil practices. We are, in part, responsible for the prosperity and 
happiness of our country. We "are intimately interested in her 
virtue and honour; and if she be disgraced, we participate in ht'r 
shame. 

We are members too of the great family of mankind. We are 
endowed witli feelings and sympathies which were nitended for 
our use, and which bind us to our fellow creatures by the common 
ties of human sympatliy. If our fellow man be wronged, there is 
a feeling within us which prompts an efl'ort for his relief'. If fe- 
male virtue be violated, the blush of shame mantles upon the cheek 



92 CITIZENS OF PENNSVLVANIA. 

and a righteous indignation is roused in the bosom against the per- 
petrator of the outrage. If children be torn from the arms of their 
parents; if wives and husbands, brothers and sisters, be ruthlessly 
separated from each other, and forced to spend their lives of unre- 
quited toil as it were in exile; the cruelty of such acts must send 
a thrill of horror through every soul, not dead to the higher feelings 
of our nature. No matter what may be the colour of the victims, 
or how distant the scene of the outrage, the recital of the deed 
brings with it an evidence of its cruelly, and must rouse the vir- 
tuous and benevolent into vigorous action, for the protection of the 
rights of human nature. If the labourer is defrauded of his hire, a 
sense of the gross injustice of the act must be felt and acknowledged 
by every man, who has a conscience which can discriminate be- 
tween justice and injustice. He must feel that injury is done to 
his brother, and he will desire to do his part toward his relief. 

If, then, the system of slavery involves in its very elements a 
gross violation of the moral law; if it strikes at the fundamental prin- 
ciple of practical religion, "to do unto others as we would that they 
should do unto us;" if no written or external testimony be neces- 
sary to convince mankind of its gross injustice; if the strongest 
emotions of the human breast are shocked by the outrages which 
it commits upon the bodies and souls of men; if the strongest sym- 
pathies of women are enlisted on behalf of its victims; — if, in fine, 
the witness for truth be permitted to operate in the heart of every 
man, whether he be the inhabitant of a civilized and Christian com- 
munity, or whether he be an untutored native of the forest, it will 
rise up in judgment against the whole system. 

Then have we nothing to do with it? — Must the common feel- 
ings of our nature be repressed? — must human language be disarm- 
ed of its power to speak out the sentiments of the heart? — must the 
utterance, for which nature herself cries out, be denied us? — must 
the press be prevented from spreading far and near the story of the 
negro's wrongs? — No, it cannot be, while human sympathy finds 
a place in a human breast.— It cannot be. 

If slavery be evil in its nature, and destructive in its tendencies; 
if it involves an open and palpable violation of the laws of God, 
and of the duties of man toward his fellow; if the testimony of the 
whole civilized and even of the barbarian world is against it; 
and if we a;'e implicated in its existence, as citizens of the United 
States — as parties to the compact by which it is sustained — as men 
and as Christians — then we are called upon, by every principle 
which can animate us to virtuous action, to lift up our voices in 
bolialf of its oppressed victims, and to cry aloud against a practice 
which violates the inherent rights of man. And to do this more 
efiectually, it becomes us to organize Anti-Slavery Societies over 
the length and breadth of the land; to use our talents and our means 



AllIHtKSS TO THE 93 

in difl'iising inrormalioii on tliis vitally intorcstinir subject; — to pub- 
lish and circulate facts, showing the enormities of the system; — to 
pour our petitions into the halls of Congress, praying for the aboli- 
tion of slavery in the District of Columbia, and for the extinction 
of the domestic slave trade. i 

Our object is to promote free discussion on the subject — to agi- 
tate it unceasingly until its dark and hideous features are brought 
to the surface, and placed in the view of every man, woman and 
child in the nation. We are convinced that the system requires 
only to be seen in its true light, and stripped of all extra- 
neous circumstances, to be abhorred; and that when thus exposed, 
it will require no argument to convince those who behold it, that 
its immediate abandonment is demanded by every consideration of 
humanity and sound policy. We say its immediate abandonment — 
and we say this with peculiar force when we have declared that we 
rely for success in our cause, upon convincing the judgment of the 
slaveholder and his apologist, that to act upon the principle, that man 
can hold his fellow man as property, is a sin — and that, like all other 
sins, it must be immediately abandoned. Common sense teaches 
us, that if a man be convicted in his own mind, that he is in the 
commission of a flagrant violation of his Maker's law, — and that 
every moment he continues in that violation he is incurring the 
Divine displeasure, — he will at once be disposed to relinquish the 
evil thing, and thus secure his peace of mind: — While on the other 
hand, if he is furnished with excuses for continuance in crime ; — 
if he be told that it is dangerous immediately to do right; — if the 
sinfulness of the act is pointed out to him, and yet it be said that 
circumstances justify him in continuing it; — the voice of conscience 
is stifled, and lulled into a fatal repose. 

We believe that slavery in tiie United States, is mainly upheld 
by the support which it obtains from public opinion in the Northern 
states. Men of intelligence and of great respectability in society — 
whose opinions and actions exercise a vast influence over the pub- 
lic mind at the North and South, are justifying the continuance of 
slavery under existing circumstances. They acknowledge that 
it is a great evil; that it is impoverishing the country, which tole- 
rates it; that if it be not abolished it will, sooner or later, involve us 
in the horrors of a civil and servile war; and that it is a disgrace 
upon the fair fame of the nation: — and many are to be found in the 
Southern States, who will endorse their opinions, and mourn with 
them over the ruin which it will inevitably bring upon themselves 
or their children after them if it be not abolished. And yet, strange 
to tell, these are the men who are fearing the consequences of the 
performance of an act which, according to their own arguments, 
must at some time or other be performed! The amount of their ar- 
gument is, that slavery is sinful, but it is unsafe to cease at once 



94 CITIZENS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

from the performance of a sinful act. And what is the consequence 
of this kind of reasoning? The system is annually gaining increas- 
ed vigor, and its unsightly proportions are swelling out, until the 
soul sickens at the view. The acquisition of new territory, to ac- 
commodate it^ increasing demands is loudly called for; and plans 
are now on foot to defraud a neighboring nation of a large and valu- 
able portion of her soil which had been consecrated to freedom, to 
be appropriated as a great slave mart for the accommodation and pro- 
fit of the slaveholders of the United States, ft is not surprising that 
this grand scheme of iniquity should be supported by certain legis- 
latures of the slaveholding states; and if the "genius of universal 
emancipation" should not, ere long, become the governing princi- 
ple of Northern legislation, it is altogether probable that the machi- 
nations now in progress may be consummated by the aid of North- 
ern votes, or, if necessary, of Northern swords. 

If there ever was a time, when the cry of "immediate emanci- 
pation" should be wTung in the ears of this nation, it is now; — and 
any tiling short of this may be fatal to the cause of freedom. 

We advocate immediate emancipation, as a remedy for slavery, 
because we believe it to be the only remedy consistent with our 
views of the magnitude of the sin, and of the imminent risk which 
our country is hourly incurring from its continuance. We believe 
it to be the only doctrine calculated to rouse the slumbering con- 
science of the slaveholder, and to induce him to act promptly under 
the influence of his convictions. Already has this doctrine gained 
its converts amongst slaveholders : — and a Birney, a Thome, and 
a Nelson, with a worthy band of southern compatriots, have come 
forth amidst the most unreleiiting opposition and persecution, as 
its unflinching advocates. We can scarcely doubt from the abun- 
dant testimony presented, that many others throughout the Southern 
states are experiencing the convictions of truth, who are deterred 
Irom publicly espousing our cause through fear of popular violence 
and tumult. It is indeed remarkable, that the progress of the cause 
in the South has been as encouraging as we know it to be, when 
we consider the unparalleled exertions which have been made to 
prevent the circulation of anti-slavery publications, and the shame- 
ful manner in which gag law and lynch law have been applied to 
those whose sentiments are known to be favorable to freedom. 
The influence of our principles are, however, silently operating, and 
as they become incorporated into the public sentiment of the North- 
ern states, they will be the more deeply and extensively felt in the 
South. Let the Northern Press be unshackled, and every mail 
will carry them from Maine to New Orleans. No legislation can 
define the limits beyond which the voice of truth shall not be heard. 
Like the light from Heaven, it shines and radiates over the whole 
expanse of the moral world. Let our Northern legislators be taught 



ADUKESS TO TlIK 05 

the lesson, lliat llicy liokl ilieir places of trust and lioiioiir at the 
will of a people who are pledged to the cause of rational liberty, 
without regard to shades of colour with wiiich the Almighty has 
been pleased to mark his creatures, and the time is at hand, when 
our national councils will ring with thrilling and eloquent appeals 
to the humanity of the nation, in behalf of our down-troilden and 
oppressed countrymen, — when at the return of every session of 
Congress, our halls of legislation will be the arena of the great 
moral conflict between slavery and liberty. Let but the channel 
of free discussion be opened before the eyes of the nation and the 
world, with the friends of liberty on the one side, and the advocates 
for the principle that human beings should be property on the 
other hand, and we fear not the issue. With the weapons of truth, 
wielded with talent and energy, the destruction of the system b(j 
the consent of those who now uphold it, and in a peacaible man- 
ner, is certain. The South will be awakened to a sense of her 
danger; she will arise and put on the beautiful garments of righ- 
teousness, "redeemed, regenerated, and disenthralled, by the irre- 
sistible genius of universal emancipation." 

The emancipation for which we plead, is not an emancipation 
from law, but from slavery. We ask that the slave may immedi- 
ately be made a freeman, who shall be responsible to just laws for 
the abuse of his rights, as we are responsible : — that instead of 
being under the irresponsible control of a master, who may treat 
him with cruelty, or who may scourge him at pleasure, he may be 
protected in his rights by the strong arm of law : — that he may 
immediately be entitled to fair wages for his labour, instead of 
toiling without reward : — that he may immediately be admitted to 
the benefits of education, whereby his mind may become enlight- 
ened, and his usefulness increased : — that he may immediately be 
permitted to call his wife and children his own, and to gather them 
in the domestic circle, with the consciousness that no tyrant dare 
to intrude upon the sacred precincts of his home. 

We advocate the system which has recently been adopted with 
such triumphant success in some of the West India Islands. It is 
well known that, on the first of August, 1834, by a decree of the 
British Government, 800,000 slaves, then held in those islands, 
were declared to be freemen ! Two dilTerent systems were adopted 
by the planters — the one of apprenticeship, which requires that 
the former slaves shall be held in a state of conditional servitude, 
for six years, and shall then be considered entirely free ; and the 
other, that, on the first of August, tliey should be deemed uncon- 
ditionally and immediately free. Two of the islands (Antigua and 
Bermuda) each containing a black population, vastly more nume- 
rous in proportion with the whites than is to be found in any ol' 
our Southern states, preferred the latter system. An edict went 



9G CITIZENS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

forth that, on the appointed day, the shackles should fall from the 
limbs of many thousands of human beings, who had been held in 
a state of debasing servitude. And what was the result? Accord- 
ing to the representations of slaveholders and their Nortliern 
apologists, ruin, bloodshed, and murder, should have at once 
usurped the place of law and order — the slaves who had been so 
long in cruel subjection, when their rights were acknowledged, and 
their liberties were restored, should have risen up to punish their 
benefactors ! Those who had lieaped injury and abuse upon them, 
and had so unwisely concluded at once to treat them with kindness, 
and with a due regard for their rights, should in return have been 
visited with the most cruel and bloody retribution. Their wives and 
their children should have been murdered, and the decree of extermi- 
nation to every white man on the islands should have gone forth. In 
a word, all the frightful phantoms which are so vividly conjured up 
in the imaginations of our Southern orators, and which are so 
eloquently pourtrayed in their public speeches, should have been 
realized ; and what is now regarded as mere idle cant, should have 
become the sober lesson of experience. 

But what is the fact, in regard to this matter? Let the late volumi- 
nous official reports to the House of Commons of Great Britain, be 
consulted. There it will be found that, instead of anarchy and 
confusion on the first of August, good order and quietude prevailed; 
that instead of the furious acts of a frienzied and reckless population, 
the whole community was bowed in humility before the Great 
Author of the Universe, acknowledging with gratitude his favours, 
in so influencing the hearts of the oppressors as to secure to them 
their long lost rights. — And what has been the social and political 
condition of those islands, since that memorable period? Let their 
increased number of schools, their thriving mercantile business, 
their flourishing commerce, the substitution of the marriage contract 
for concubinage, their increased industry and their piety, fittest the 
fact. 

We were told by our opponents, a few years ago, "don't agitate 
this question, till the experiment of Great Britain is tried ;" or, 
in other words, don't advocate the practice of honesty, till England 
has set you the example. Be it said, to the glory of Great Britain, 
and to our shame, she has fried it, and we now point our oppo- 
nents to the result. — We ask them calmly to examine, first the 
moral character of slavery, and then if they are not convinced 
that it is right immediately to cease from doing wrong, we point 
them to the page of history, and implore them to read and examine 
attentively, this whole question ; — and, if their intentions are 
honest, and their minds bent on pursuing the course of justice, we 
fear not their decision in favour of immediate emancipation. 

We call upon you, fellow citizens for your aid in this great mo- 



ADDRESS TO THE CITIZEN'S OF PENNSYLVANIA. 97 

ral enterprise. Our object is "peaceably, and firmly to advocate 
the claims of two and a half millions of our countrymen who are 
in cruel servitude." 

We disdain all attempts at unconstitutional interference with 
the concerns of other states, or wilii the rights of individuals. We 
abhor a resort to violence in redress of the wrongs under which our 
oppressed countrymen are labouring, as unchristian and unholy. 
The great lever with which we propose to act, is public sentiment, 
and this is to be formed by presenting the truth to the minds of 
individuals, by urging our appeals u|>on their consciences, bv con- 
vincing their judgments of the sinfuhiess of slavery, and of the 
duty and policy of immediate emancipation. — We look first to en- 
lightening the public mind of the North, with confident belief that 
when that is ellected the great prop wiiich sustains the systen will 
be removed — the hearts of our Southern brethren will then be 
accessible, their consciences will be roused, and they will do 
works meet for repentance. For this consummation we rely upon 
Divine aid — and confidently appeal to the searcher of hearts for 
the purity of our motives in the prosecution of this glorious under- 
taking. 

Isaac Parrish, 
Lewis C. Gunn, 
Wm. H. Scott, 
James Shaw, 
Wm. L. Robb, 
Alan W. Corson, 
Thos. Whitson. 



At the late Anti-Slavery Convention, held at Harrisburg, i 
was strongly urged upon the friends of Emancipation throughot 
our State, to organize themselves into Ward, District, Townshi 
and County Societies. This recommendation is considered ( 
such high importance to the success of our cause, that it has bee 
deemed advisable to renew the advice in the present form. 

It is an old adage, and a true one, that "Union is strength, 
and in no case will the remark apply with more force, than i 
carrying on the Anti-Slavery Cause. We look for the extinctio 
of Slavery and the Slave Trade in our land, under the blessin 
of Providence, to the omnipotent moral force of an enlightene 
public opinion. To create this public sentiment, our principle 
must be industriously and extensively diffused; abolitionists mu 
unite together, and devise means for the circulation of public; 
tions on the subject of Slavery, for the improvement and edi 
cation of our coloured fellow citizens, and for the prom'^ n i 
every object calculated to advance our righteous cause. 

The times are full of interest; — the great principles of liberl 
are striving mightily against the dark spirit of Slavery; — ii 
freedom of the free-born sons of Pennsylvania is involved in i' 
issue; — the right to speak and publish our opinions on this Si 
ject has been denied us; — the doors of our Capitol have been shi 
upon us by our public servants; — the spirit of Slavery still livi 
amongst, us, and it becomes us, as virtuous and orderly citizen 
who believe that "Righteousness [alone] exalteth a nation," ar 
that "sin is a reproach to any people," to rouse ourselves from tl 
apathy in which we have been reposing, and buckle on tl 
arrnour of Truth, wielding the weapons of Reason and Justi( 
against a system which reduces two and a half millions of our fe 
low countrymen to abject servitude, and is a foul blot upon oi 
national character. 

The plan of organization here proposed, has already been con 
menced in Philadelphia, by forming Ward Anti-Slavery Socii 
ties, auxiliary to a County Society. 

QJ^ The friends of Abolition are respectfully, but earnestl 
recommended to subscribe for the "National Enquirer," 
weekly newspaper, edited by Benjamin Lundy, a veteran in tl 
cause of Abolition. 

It is published at No. 223 Arch street, Philadelphia, at t\^ 
dollars per annum, payable yearly in advance. 

Address Benjamin S. Jones, Agent, Philadelphia. 



